The Origin of QuikCadence

"I don't know how to start this..."
- rap legend Nas, prior to the beginning verse of "New York State of Mind", the first song off his first CD Illmatic, considered by many to be the greatest hip-hop album of all-time.


Perhaps I should start with a confession... I'm addicted to basketball.

From the very first time I picked up a ball in second grade, I fell in love with the game: the sweet sound the net makes when your shot falls through the cylinder with no ricochet; the smell of your sweat as it renders any deodorant you may have used in the morning obsolete; the sight of an unthinkable shot going in or a six-foot nothing guard dunking over a seven-foot foreigner; the taste of an elbow as you tussle for a rebound; the feeling of teammates mobbing you after you hit a big shot... everything about basketball just felt right.

I'm still a nut. If you don't believe me, just read my basketball blog.

But, I unconsciously bring up an interesting point. Is this blog redundant? Isn't one blog about basketball enough? I guess it depends on who's reading it, right?

Allow me to state my case...

After breaking my thumbs in with Super Mario Bros. and such, the first sports video game I played was Jordan vs. Bird, where--you guessed it--you could be Michael Jordan or Larry Bird. I never could beat that pesky white guy, but even with its simplistic approach I enjoyed the fact that I could be competitive without necessarily leaving my room. That, and I actually felt like MJ.

As amazing as that game was, I think the tide turned in 1992 when I first played Tecmo Basketball on Nintendo. Gaming heads mainly remember Tecmo Bowl or Tecmo Super Bowl, but that TB might be the most underrated sports game of all-time. It took all the elements of the popular football series and transferred it to basketball, but to me the biggest thing was the players. Honestly, at the time I think that there were more players in the basketball game to use--off the bench I mean--than in the football game. I felt like I actually got to know the NBA... not just the superstars, but I was probably the only 4th grader who could name ninth and 10th men on a basketball team. By 5th grade I could basically tell you who was on the Bullets' practice squad.

I think I knew early on that I probably wouldn't be a special basketball player despite my best efforts, but playing Tecmo was like an escape for me. I missed every single shot at recess, but damnit, I'm not gonna miss when I hit the B button and Larry Johnson has the ball.

I'm not going to lie to you: I HATED EA sports' basketball games early on compared to Tecmo. Lakers vs. Celtics and the NBA Playoffs!? Sure, the signature moves were nice and all, but those idiots only had 16 teams in the game! There were 27 teams at the time, meaning the players of the 11 teams that weren't in the game had to tell their kids, "Daddy's not in the game this year because we didn't make the playoffs. Maybe next year."

I got so mad that when Tecmo came out for Genesis in '93, I took my allowance and bought that instead of the EA option. Someone over there must have gotten word of my disappointment because NBA Showdown '94 came out, which did include all the teams.

Still, even at such a young age Showdown seemed real stiff to me. That and it was crazy easy to beat; all you had to do was one of those dumb signature moves. I swore that EA and I were done.

It was coming up to the start of the 1994-95 season, and being a basketball video game connoisseur I read a review on a new game coming out. Sounded promising, especially since I hadn't heard a peep from EA. So, I told my dad to rent the game at Blockbuster.

Well, he rented a basketball game, but not the basketball game I wanted. Being the nice, obedient kid I was, however, I didn't say a word. It's a trait I carry with me today: I'm fairly open-minded about new things. I decided to try this game, this NBA Live '95.

Ridiculous.

It was so fresh. Sure, an EXTREMELY high percentage of shots went in, and yeah, there weren't any special moves, but everything else was great. My favorite thing to do was dunk on someone with Penny or Shaq (big into the Magic like everyone else back then) and watch them point all the way back down court. My boy Greg and I used to have our own two-person tournaments, where we'd make two custom teams each and just go at it. I look back on that one year and I can honestly say I've never played a game as much as I played Live '95.

And, every year they kept making it better. Well, mostly. '96: Cross-over and create-a-player. '97: Three-point contest. '98, the year I converted to Playstation: ANNOUNCING, not to mention VARIATION in your dribbling ability. '99: Cyber 'Toine ball-handling (close 2nd to '08 in terms of moves you could do), something called dynasty mode. Aside from upgrading to a PS2 between 2000 and 2002, they added small nooks and crannies to make gameplay more realistic, but otherwise nothing nuts; I basically got the game just to see the rookies and get the new player ratings that ended up being inconsequential two weeks into the season anyway. '03: FREESTYLE, not to mention a good little sampler CD. '04: Little tweak on the freestyle, not to mention I had to get the game with LeBron and 'Melo as rookies (prove that I'm an NBA Live nerd: King James was a 73; 'Melo a 69). '05: All-Star Weekend added the dunk contest, which was cool for about five minutes. '06: stock superstar attributes that bought back that whole Showdown mentality, and after a month I somewhat stopped using them.

That was about the time that two things happened: 1) Cadence Simonne Cherot graced us with her presence, and 2) after having to bang my PS2 just to start the damn thing, I decided to get '07 on the PC.

It didn't transfer very well for me, and it almost killed my entire reason for creating this blog. I tried playing online for the first time since I played Live '96 on XBand, Genesis' version of online gaming, and although I had DSL at the time, everything ran EXTREMELY slow. I hated the experience, and settled for playing the computer. Alone. Because no one wanted to play on a computer that barely met the minimum system requirements. Even the game itself was mundane. Except for the ability to switch your stock superstar attributes, the game was pretty much the same.

I knew I had to get either a 360 or a PS3, so I kept dropping subtle hints to my girlfriend. From whispering in her ear while she as asleep to just saying for no reason in the middle of a conversation, "XBOX 360!!!", I gave it a lot of effort. Funny, if I put half as much effort as I put into school I'd be a real-life House (not Eddie).

So, finally, for Valentine's Day last year (how romantic), my girlfriend Shanta and I split the cost of a 360. At the register, however, there was an offer for one of three free games with the 'Box. Madden '08, NBA 2k8, or something else. I went into deep thought.

Granted, I had played both 2K and Live prior to getting to the register on my friend Hakeem's XBox. We compared. I liked the realism of 2K's gameplay, but the graphics and the re-tooled freestyle button was what put Live over the top.

Even though I had the 'Box, that wasn't the end of the conflict. Shanta didn't want me to get online because she felt that it'd be at the sacrifice of time with her and Cadence. We went back and forth for a couple weeks, and I finally I said, "I'm just going to drop $20 and go for three months."

I did, and under the moniker "Tripset30" (my poker nickname) I started off guns blazing... to the tune of 3-20. I didn't know what was up. I was killing my boy Hakeem when we were testing Live out. Badly. In fact, he'll deny this but I distinctively remember playing with the Celtics and coming back from down 12... with 1:30 left. What was going on?

And that's when I realized the climate of online competitive gaming had changed since XBand. There were players who lived and breathed NBA Live. I think what really got me addicted to playing online was the rankings, one through 10,000, and if you weren't under 10,000, who the hell were you?

I couldn't continue with Tripset30. I couldn't handle the fact that higher-ranked players would run from a game with me for the wrong reason: they didn't want to waste their time. At about 40-80, I decided it was worth another $20 to switch names and start over. Tripset30 is still the man... just not at Live.

One thing I will say is that, despite a really bad record, Tripset30 did beat some good players near the end. I was actually much worse than 40 games under, but my record in the last 20 was around 15-5. In those games, I had established an identity, similar to how I used to play Live in my youth. Similar to the style that my favorite team, the Dallas Mavericks, used as a booby trap for me to fall into.

Run and gun. Made basket? Run. Fast break? Gun... from deep. The Suns have their fame for seven seconds or less. Whatever team I played with I wanted to score within five most of the time. I wanted to be uptempo infinity.

I wanted a QuikCadence.

I lost my first game like 113-110 against a 16 skill level opponent. I traded winning streaks with losing streaks. I won my last game as a 13 skill level player against a level three guy in a blowout. All told, I finished my six month excursion with QuikCadence in Live '08 113-101. Not too shabby for a guy who jumped in somewhat late.

I was all over Live '09 from June. The second Kevin Garnett screamed, "ANYTHING IS POSSIBLE!!!!" after winning the title, I Gooooogled information on the next Live. I was ecstatic to find out that the game would update everyday and that each player's performance would be dictated by what he did the night before, a feature tailor-made for the online player. I felt like the practice academy would help me hone my game before I stepped onto the court. I even liked the admitted miniscule enhancements in dynasty mode. Sounded like a winner.

The second the demo dropped in mid October, I downloaded it. I would alternate between the Lakers and Celtics, trying to get a feel for the nuances of '09. They re-tooled the freestyle stuff again. You can actually get up in a defender. The turbo button is more useful this year. For whatever reason, there's a pseudo-forcefield around the sidelines and baselines. I didn't take notes or spend hours per night labbing like I'm sure players 1-20 might do, but I gave myself plenty of time to get acclimated.

I ended up developing a rhythm as QuikCadence as, ironically, the Utah Jazz in '08, so I started off with them in '09. Funny how that one ended up. I blew a 14-point 3rd quarter lead and lost in overtime. That kind of set the tone for the first couple of days, as I won win by a lot and lose by a little, almost alternating. When I dipped under .500 at 8-9, I thought to myself, "Here we go again. Might have to go back to Tripset."

But, a funny thing happened. Those losses helped me develop a much thicker skin. I learned how to finish games.

After starting 8-9, I am 91-39. That's right, I'm one win away from 100.

And yet, I'm pissed because alex rosheim completely shut down my Mavericks with his Bulls, 87-76 in a game that probably wasn't even that close. It kind of threw my rhythm off not having Josh Howard out there, but truth be told, he beat me. He kicked my ass. On the boards. From the perimeter. Hell, he caused Dirk Nowitzki to foul out (although I guess it's good to see him so physical somewhere).

And, basically, that's what this blog is for. I'm not delusional; playing Live on XBox doesn't trump my everyday fear that I won't be able to eat in this diminishing economy, nor the appreciation I have for spending time with QuikCadence's inspiration (she learned how to say "And one" a couple days ago).

When it all boils down to it, I'm paying homage to and glamorizing an activity that me and millions of others have enjoyed for years (minus '01, '02 and '07).

I may never grow up, but if that means not playing Live, I don't want to.

But, seriously, damn, I need to graduate.

Current Ranking: 381 Streak: -1