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Ditching Work For A Great Cause!
After attending the E3 gaming convention followed immediately by Comic-Con you would think I had my fill of video games. However, this week I was happy to travel to the Rose Bowl for the 20th annual Madden Palooza.
This an event where every year the new version of "Madden NFL Football" is introduced. Thousands of video game devotees travel to the event to be among the first to play the new version and purchase it on the eve it hits stores. Fans also get a chance to meet and take photos with retired NFL players. This year Marcus Allen, Willie Holt, Deion Sanders, Steve Young and Warren Sapp were out for the fans. Fans were also treated to a performance by the band Good Charlotte.
My interest in attending was purely personal. My good friend Addie (who used to work here with me) and her husband Greg Zinone are the founders of a charity called "Pro vs. G.I Joe." The goal is to link up professional athletes and celebrities in video game competitions with soldiers both here and overseas as a way to boost morale. "Pro vs G.I. Joe" was invited by EA sports to participate in Madden Palooza a few weeks ago and Addie and Greg were thrilled to join in. Of course, it was a lot of work to pull together in a short period of time. I wanted to do whatever I could to help so I offered my services down at the Rose Bowl for them on Monday afternoon. Of course, I knew I could write about it for my blog so it's technically not ditching work -- which is a good thing because based on my headline for this story my bosses were probably a little suspicious!
I felt like a proud big sister watching Addie and Greg pull it all together. They set up a couch and some gaming chairs in a room underneath the massive stadium. They had hung "Pro vs. GI Joe" signs and camouflage netting to give it an authentic military feel. They set up a TV, a couch, some gaming chairs, the Xbox 360 and a computer monitor with a web cam link to a group of soldiers in Kuwait at the USO gaming center XBox's live gaming tag.
Unfortunately, the web cam link was not working so there was a lot of sweating going on as they fumbled to get it to work. A friend stepped in and got it working literally moments before their special guest was set to arrive. EA Sports had been kind enough to arrange for Warren Sapp (a defensive tackle who played for Tampa Bay and then Oakland) to come in and play the group of troops that had come specifically for the event, and those playing in Kuwait.
Warren arrived on time -- walked in, sat right down and got started right away, taking on the soldiers in Kuwait in a rousing game of Madden 09. He put a headset on so he could talk directly to the soldiers as they played. He looked like he was having the time of his life, getting into the game, jumping up and down when he missed plays and talked smack back and forth with them.
The smile on Addie's face lit up the room as she took it all in and it put the hugest smile on my face and brought a tear to my eye to see my friends vision come to life. This is not the first event they have done and it definitely wont be the last for a long time to come. It's just the first time I have seen it in action.
It's such a simple thing to be able to bring joy to the soldiers this way. The athletes and celebrities love it because they are getting to do something they love to do anyway, play video games.
A KABC crew came to capture the story for local news and Warren remarked to their reporter, of being able to play with the troops in Kuwait, "Unbelievable isn't it? We've come a long way since we had to go knock on the next door neighbors house to find somebody to play!"
Though his schedule was tight, Warren stuck to his word and came back to play a game with the troops who had traveled to the event. I swear, if it were up to him he would have stayed the entire time rather than heading to out to the event.
Despite the earlier technical difficulties, the event was a huge success and Addie and Greg could not have been more thrilled.
"We're just happy to make these events happen for our troops who are away from their homes and families for months at a time. We know it's a rare opportunity [for them to] connect with a professional athlete from 8,000 miles away," Greg said. "So being able to provide that through Pro vs. GI Joe is what we're all about. It's not just about playing a game they love; It's about making a connection despite the miles, providing a reprieve for the soldiers and providing the athlete an opportunity to show the troops their appreciation in a really fun way. We couldn't be happier with the success of the event. Hopefully, this is just the beginning."
For more about the organization visit www.prosvsgijoes.org
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