An Introduction (Updated, 8/9/21)
This all came out of distraction starting in May, when I played a hack of Tecmo Super Bowl using the 1985 season schedule and rosters--as a kid obsessed with sports, particularly football, that season seems so strange; and, if, one wanted to construct a history, that really was Marino's best and last shot, so I wanted to see if I could get there and win it against the Bears (I did, 34-24). Those files have been lost, but it made me think about that period of history--one we are still under the shadow of in terms of cultural and aesthetics at least, and when I played the '86 version--a "tragic" one as a Browns fan--I started to assemble a narrative and mostly joke texts to a friend. In order to be doing something as a former product of creative writing programs, I began tracking the season thoroughly and writing prose pieces; it has ballooned as I still need distractions.
This whole project is constructed around the vague "form" of the pro football/NFL yearbooks my grandfather collected and I pursued as a kid. The title of the blog is the first completed "yearbook" or "season notes," chronicling my '86. It was originally uploaded as a whole with my own hack of the 1987 season to TecmoBowl.org, to be read alongside or ahead of, playing through that year. Because that site has collapsed, I will try to put them up here on this blog so you can play them too; I recommend FCEUX as an emulator. You can also just play the hacks if you want.
The goal of this blog is to "chunk" up that narrative into maybe easier to read bites; if you download the hack, you will get this whole thing in pdf. I am working through '87 and '88 now, and will post those up in chunks as well, if you want to read them, and will assemble them as whole when they are complete. Each season sort of links together into a larger thing; it has no real conclusion or final form yet. Any history I point to before '85 is accurate and anything after is my imagination--I am working off my memory of my '85.
The author is me but not me and there is an editor who guides him or intercedes. The characters who spring up are fictional, even if they share the names of real coaches and players. This is all imagined, though some imaginings--particularly the minutiae of trades and selections, the heavy football stuff--are based on some sort of reality or hypothesis (for instance, Doug Williams was never traded to the Raiders ahead of '87, but LA did try to acquire him); I guess this is why I call this an "alternate history." It is self-indulgent at times, but I hope you appreciate it in the way we often appreciate people and their obsessive interests--like those who document beetles or keep bird books, which really do seem much more productive than this project.
Notes on USFL Project
In February, I began working on an a hack of the USFL; using the "WLAF-USFL Dynasty" hack as a base, I managed to create a rom built around the '84 season, with all 18 clubs.
Research is based on Jeff Pearlman's book Football for a Buck, Jim Byrne's $1 League, and research already done by Remember the USFL, @VUSFL2018 on Twitter and his excellent Virtual USFL Project, and contemporary ephemera: articles, transaction wires, and unfulfilled drafts.
I still hope to build a compelling narrative--one beyond just sport--and I hope it will interweave with Age of Vinny, though it must divert sometimes: this comes out of function, as I hope to build fun hacks with interesting players taking different career routes (Randall Cunningham, for instance, being the quarterback of the Arizona Wranglers). This is all my diversion and my amusement, though I hope others find it interesting. The excesses of the league--what brought about its destruction--is also what makes it so fascinating and historically specific and significant: you need the labor strife of '82, brutal deregulation, and a perverse optimism of a new world of financialization to pull something like the USFL off. If conditions were different, maybe it continues.
We live in a brutal, harsh world; as I move into middle age, I'm not sure how to process or articulate what could've been, or how I was created. Everything has felt counterfactual during my existence and one of the few things that provided a very vague meaning was sports: comradery, the devotion to a project, the only place left where people from below move beyond their status. This is the lens I take to tell a story about something else, just like I present in the NFL narratives. The USFL does provide more flexibility in this narrative due to its very short lifespan. Again, the characters who spring up are fictional, even if they share the names of real coaches and players. This is all imagined, though some imaginings--particularly the minutiae of trades and selections, the heavy football stuff--are based on some sort of reality or hypothesis.
Streaming
I am not a streamer, but if you wish to use any of my hacks for your streaming, feel free.
Donations
I considered establishing a Patreon, but I didn't want to make anyone feel like they had to pay for anything--this work is free and available here and on TBorg. However, contributions are always welcome: it can be rough trying to cultivate a creative work in the system we all live in. If you wish to contribute, my Venmo is @Tombor13, the same as my Twitter handle. Thanks.
Hacks
For those looking for accompanying hacks; they are available on TecmoBowl.Org (my Twitter Page has a link). Available files are also below: they are zipped, with the hack and accompanying season play results if you want to check those out as well. I use FCEUltra as my emulator; hopefully a stat-extractor will be available soon.
The files:
Other Files:
Twitter: @Tombor13
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