INDIANAPOLIS ? Drew Brees can win Super Bowls. He can break passing records. He can star in cold medicine commercials, donate money and energy to numerous charities, and earn the respect of millions.
His video gaming skills, however, leave something to be desired.
As part of the N.F.L.?s Play 60 initiative, Brees challenged a group of regional youngsters to track and field competitions on the Xbox 360 Kinect gaming console. The event?s message was to make this the most active Super Sunday ever. ?What we?re encouraging everybody to do is, prior to the game or at halftime, whenever you can fit it in ? get your 60 minutes of exercise,? Brees said.
The XBOX 360 Kinect markets itself as an indoor exercise alternative on cold or rainy days, and anyone who has watched children work up a healthy indoor sweat dancing or boxing against digital avatars knows that the console beats both television and the suggestions of grandma (a nice jigsaw puzzle) and the self-congratulatory supermom down the street (?have them make a scrapbook of flower petals from the local arboretum!?). Brees may be a compensated endorser of the product, but he is also an enthusiastic one. ?The stuff that?s so much fun now is the dancing,? he said. ?It?s hilarious. It?s interactive, and we get a kick out of that.?
Brees also likes video ping pong. ?I love table tennis, period, but I don?t have a table tennis set,? he said, crouching and demonstrating his readiness to return an imaginary serve.
Track and field, however, was not Brees? strong suit, and several of the Play 60 kids beat him in the 100-meter dash. In fairness, the six-time Pro Bowl quarterback may not have been going all-out. Children, however, can be savvy gamers, and Brees may have fallen victim to the youngsters? knack for ?figuring out? the secrets to games. ?You just have to lift your knees really high and move your arms a lot,? said 13-year-old Lexis of Brownsburg West Middle School. Indeed, the few children who lost to Brees stood too close to the game?s sensors; instead of sweet victory, they got a series of ?Move Back? warnings from the high-def televisions.
Brees played video games growing up, including the pre-Madden football classic Tecmo Super Bowl. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8PBvOxicz-0 ??For some reason, Earnest Byner was the man,? Brees said, recalling his Super Tecmo Bowl playing days. (He also expressed fondness for the more obscure Tiger Heli http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9RpKgfqRHrU).
Brees has since appeared on the cover of the Madden football game, and he attended a Madden tournament just a few hours after his Kinect session, but playing the game using his own avatar brings an understandable metaphysical conundrum. ?It?s a no-win scenario if I play as myself,? he explained: if he wins, people credit his familiarity with himself, but if he loses, they wonder how he could have such trouble controlling his digital doppelganger. ?How could you not play well? You?re you!? When in doubt, Brees can be talked into selecting every gamer?s favorite: Michael Vick. ?You know what, he?s pretty unstoppable.?
Brees, the father of two preschool-age boys, is still a few years away from the point at which they commandeer the controllers and start clamoring for games that involve rail guns and zombie apocalypses, or even helmets. ?My oldest is not so much into sports right now as he is into music,? Brees said. ?He?s my musical artist child.? Three-year old Baylen is a huge Kenny Chesney fan, which is convenient because Chesney is a very outspoken Drew Brees fan. Twenty-month old Bowen, meanwhile, ?is most definitely the athlete,? Brees said. ?Everything is just ball, ball, ball ball.?
Seven-year old Aaron, one of the Play 60 kids, is also a Madden gamer, though he seemed unimpressed to be in the presence of one of the game?s cover subjects. Then again, Brees was on the 2009 cover, which was 42 percent of little Aaron?s life ago. When coaxed, Aaron could not even list Brees as his favorite player in the game. ?Maybe sometimes Maurice Jones-Drew,? said the budding Jaguars fan. Perhaps Aaron is the next Brees, and Jones-Drew will be his Earnest Byner.
At the end of the event, each of the participating children received his or her own Xbox 360 Kinect console. For Lexis and many of the others, it will be their second console gaming system: several of the children said they were avid Nintendo Wii players. For Aaron, the new console is actually a duplicate: he already has one, plus a Wii and a handheld Ninetendo DS. Aaron sounded reluctant to share the new gift with his two sisters, and giving it away was not an option. ?Most of my friends already have an Xbox,? he said.
Finally, the time came for Brees to accept the challenge of a chubby sportswriter and casual gamer in a video sprint. As always happens when adults try to set up a video game, there were several false starts as we tried to navigate the startup menu and find the proper place to stand. Our digital avatars (who both had receding hairlines for some reason) took their marks, and Brees, perhaps heeding Lexis?s ?high knees? advice too fervently, executed a John Cleese-worthy silly walk, kicking his feet high into the air with each stride. Seizing my opportunity, I pumped my arms and knees, running in place as hard and fast as jeans pockets full of wallets, smartphones, and portable tape recorders will allow. In the first-ever 100-meter dash that could accommodate commercial breaks, I eventually crossed the finish line a few seconds ahead of Brees.
It was the best workout I have had during Super Bowl week. Aaron, however, was unimpressed with my technique. ?Ehh?? was all he said.
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Source: http://fifthdown.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/02/03/brees-challenges-kids-one-video-game-sprint-at-a-time/
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