2021 R.B.I. Baseball & Tecmo Bowl National Championship.

[nomaaa]

are you saying he COULD beat that one guy's boston?

[BeefMaster]

At the very least, we established at the tourney that I could not beat Vic's Boston (his go-to matchup was Bo-NL, and I chose NL).

[BeefMaster]

Tournament highlight package put together by former Tecmo champ Ben Schwartz:

[TbT]

I cannot say enough about how cool the experience was and how great a job TBT did in putting it together. It was a really interesting mix of super-competitive folks and Filthy Casuals like myself, but while the cream eventually rose to the top, it was a LOT more competitive than I expected. NATE NATE NATE won the Tecmo title, but he went to overtime in his quarterfinal game, against a guy who only beat me 3-0 (and I blew a couple scoring chances on a bonehead interception in field goal range and a scrambling screwup that cost me 10 yards in my last-ditch drive at the end). The heartbreaker I lost thanks to my questionable coaching decision was to the eventual runner-up - the guy beat TBT, who's probably the most consistent top-tier player on the planet.

I lucked out a ton in the group play in Tecmo - NATE, TBT, and a guy named Ben were probably the consensus top three coming in (Ben was the only other player with a previous title), and I was in a group that included none of them (I am unsure whether it was luck of the draw or TBT was being kind to me). Ronnie and Jerry, the new guys who got 2nd and 5th, were also in other groups. Because of that, I managed to go 2-1 in group play and snag the 5 seed, so I got a super-easy matchup in the round of 16 before losing to Ronnie in the quarterfinals.

I felt way more confident about my RBI skills than Tecmo (not that I've played a ton of competitive RBI, but thanks to Dee-Nee I know the game and rosters well, and I hadn't played original Tecmo in eons), but I think the competition was a lot tighter top-to-bottom. I went 1-2 in group play, but I only lost 2-0 to Vic (the eventual champ), and he won both his other group games 2-1 (including one in 14 innings; it didn't seem like he was sandbagging). Vic and Beales were definitely the best players there and deserved to be in the title game, but they never seemed unbeatable, and the upsets in the knockout rounds seemed earned, not just flukes. And in the RBI bracket, there were not many easy games - my 5-12 matchup in Tecmo was a laugher that I won 24-0, while in the RBI bracket the 12 seed pulled off a first-round upset.

RBI Baseball is usually super competitive for players 1-12.  I've been to 16 Tecmo tourneys in 8 cities/7 states.  Generally Tecmo is a blood bath with elite vs the everyone else, but this year some really strong 2nd tier guys had great showings.  Some of that is clearly their skills, and some of it is just unusual circumstance.  It made for a memorable tourney.

For the most part I tend to keep the top players separated in group play in both tournaments.  I randomly mix in the rest.  Just by chance you landed in a group without the 3 of us. 

I don't know how much you used the cheat sheets I sent you, but the run defense stuff and the base pass call defense info goes a long way to minimize giving up big plays.  Really slows down the middle tier players offense. Just using the base run defense works wonders vs the bad players.  Against the top guys, with a bit of playcall luck the cheat sheet calls can go a long ways to prevent a slew of huge gains.  Next year you'll probably find a game against one of us.  You'll notice a step up in offensive ability compared to Ronnie or Jerry.

Ronnie is an extremely solid player.  In his losses he played fairly close with Nate and Ben losing by about 10 in each game.  Mark Bridges(big time RBI player) had a similar run a few years back.  However its rare for an outsider to not get blown out at least once when facing multiple top players.  I'm always impressed when a guy like that plays multiple good games vs us.

I've been trying to get Ronnie to come to Omaha for years.  He QB ran against me a ton.  He did the same with Nate.  IMO QB running is the great equalizer for a lesser player.  Ronnie knows we ball hawk on defense and I believe he's not quite confident in his skills to throw into tight windows very often.  Since Nate, Ben & I are used to seeing that defense we confidently air it out.  Ronnie on his late game drive against me did a great job avoiding my pass play calls, taking some safe wide angles with QB running, and just not making a mistake in order to tie it up late.  There's a reason I've wanted him in Omaha to raise the bar of the competition.  Unfortunately came at my expense. 

Nate had told me that Jerry in the round of 8 had picked his play at an unbelievable rate in the first half of their game.  Like a 5 out 6 clip in the first half, and Nate was unable to move the ball.  Occasionally that happens, but its unsustainable and you roll em offensively in the 2nd half.  However in the 2nd half Jerry continued with at least a solid 40/50% clip according to Nate.     Just impossible to do much with that.  I believe Ben had a semi comfortable win against Jerry, but knew he had some serious game.

Omaha is the top TB tourney out there.  Typically we feature 3-4 elite players, a usually at least one "super 2nd tier" guy.  Couple that with single elimination after group play and its a brutal event.

I've been to 3 events in Green Bay which I think is the 2nd hardest TB tourney to win.  They do a long format Tecmo Super Bowl tourney during the day followed by a double elimination Tecmo Bowl tourney. Beef you should go with us to that some year.  Really good Tecmo Super players intuitively have a lot of the in game ability and mechanics down.  They don't know all the inner working Tecmo Bowl tricks, but they have serious game. They tend to push us pretty hard.  However the double elimination format gives you room for error. I've won all 3 I've attended there.  Had Ben with me once, and Nate twice.  Those TSB guys are some serious hurdles and there is a lot of them that will play in the TB tourney.  Green Bay definitely has a much deeper field with the 2nd tier level of player. 

[TbT]

Lets talk about Nate Nate Nate. 
So.... about 10 days before this tourney his wife told him she wanted a divorce, and her move out date was on a sunday...the day after this tourney.  A couple days before the tourney a friend and co-worker of his committed suicide.  This friend had been to a couple of my tourneys and a while back had planned to be in attendance.  Nate played with a pretty heavy heart that day.   His resume was filled with close loses in the semis and championship.  He was clearly due to win one of these as he'd come up short in 8 previous attempts.  If forces in the galaxy/cosmos conspired here to not allow me to win that one, thats OK. 
Nate did win the coin toss in his final 2 games at Omaha and got to call his "uber favorite-loves his chances with either team" match-up (Seattle vs Miami).  I think he was destined to win that day.  Make no mistake I'd have been perfectly fine beating him head to head in another title game, had I got there. 

I got 2nd place a few weeks later to Ben in a 16 player online league primarily filled with really good TSB players.  I was on a streak now not winning 2 tourneys in a row, which I haven't faced in the last 5 years.
 
Then a month ago Nate and I went to Green Bay for that double elimination tourney.  We played in the final winners bracket game.  I got in a 9-0 hole and fought back to tie, but lost in OT. Nate was in a great spot here as it would require him to lose twice in a row for him to not win this tourney.. 

I got a fairly comfortable win in the loser bracket final to get back to play Nate.  Nate won the toss and got to call his favorite match-up: Seattle vs Miami.  However I rolled 17-6 to force a 2nd game.  I got in another 9-0 hole in the finale but fought back to tie with a FG at the gun.  I won the overtime coin toss and got the ball first.  On the opening drive of OT I marched down for a field goal to take a 3rd straight Green Bay title. 

[TbT]

And best of all, the 2022 Omaha tourney will be the subject of a documentary!    The RBI tourney will get a little exposure, but the film maker loves Tecmo and will focus on that.  See the teaser video below.



Nate, Ben, and I have already done a a pretty long sit down film session. The film will culminate with the 2022 tourney and crowning the champion. 
I have a loooooong list of Tecmo related bookmarks on twitter.  Many were from notable sports personalities that enjoy(ed) Tecmo Bowl.  I used to mail tourney promo packets to them about previous tourneys.  I went through my bookmarks and had a laundry list of names to give to the producer.  Guys from ESPN, NFL network, cbs sports, etc, etc.  Most everyone he contacted responded favorably and wants to be part of the project.  A few will even play in the tourney. 

Additionally CJ Wallis (Forty FPS) is in the final stages of finishing his Jim McMahon documentary.  Its likely that Jim will be in attendance as emcee and trophy presenter.  We have a couple other former players on Tecmo Bowl that are interested as well.  Its nuts.

Whatever your goofy hobby is, if you go balls out it may lead to something big.  Forty FPS has management that deals with Netflix and HBO Max.  Booya!

CJ's most notable film is the Price Is Right documentary (Perfect Bid) about the guy who figured out their pricing process and was in attendance for 35+ tapings over the year.  Had Bob Barker in it, Drew Carrey, and tons of old PIR footage.
You can watch that free on youtube here: 

[TbT]

Here are some clips from this years event.

Championship game of Tecmo: 

Here is from the final 8 game that Nate won in OT.  Its rare for the event to stop to watch another game this early on, but everyone knew this was huge:

Scene from the RBI tourney: 

Next year the film will make things more challenging, so I'll probably run the RBI tourney on Friday night.  Tecmo Bowl on Saturday late afternoon.   

[nomaaa]

awesome stuff

[bonny]

hell yes

[BeefMaster]

I don't know how much you used the cheat sheets I sent you, but the run defense stuff and the base pass call defense info goes a long way to minimize giving up big plays.  Really slows down the middle tier players offense. Just using the base run defense works wonders vs the bad players.  Against the top guys, with a bit of playcall luck the cheat sheet calls can go a long ways to prevent a slew of huge gains.  Next year you'll probably find a game against one of us.  You'll notice a step up in offensive ability compared to Ronnie or Jerry.

I didn't study nearly as much as I SHOULD have (I didn't know the best defensive guys on CLE/DAL/SEA, who I ended up playing with a lot, and I didn't know passing options well enough, so I almost certainly left some open bombs on the board in favor of checkdowns), but I did pay a lot of attention to the blanket "when in doubt, pick a run and use the OLB on the other side" recommendation, and that really helped me keep running games in check. Eventually against Ronnie, that wasn't enough - after he got off to a really slow start, he was able to march down the field slowly but consistently and score on his last three possessions, which is why I took the failed gamble to go for the TD instead of kick a FG to break the tie with a minute left.

Nate had told me that Jerry in the round of 8 had picked his play at an unbelievable rate in the first half of their game.  Like a 5 out 6 clip in the first half, and Nate was unable to move the ball.  Occasionally that happens, but its unsustainable and you roll em offensively in the 2nd half.  However in the 2nd half Jerry continued with at least a solid 40/50% clip according to Nate.     Just impossible to do much with that.  I believe Ben had a semi comfortable win against Jerry, but knew he had some serious game.

In the videos when Nate hits the walk-off field goal, I'm sitting directly to the left of the TV, and that was by request - Nate came to me at halftime and asked if I'd keep an eye on Jerry, because he was getting play-picked like crazy and had noticed that Jerry basically always picked defense after he did. While of course I can't say what happened in the first half, the second half appeared legit - Nate was being more careful, and Jerry was still slow on most play picks but was not suspiciously shifty-eyed. I played him two rounds later for fifth place, and he beat me 3-0, with nothing I'd consider suspicious, just very solid defense and just enough offense.

[nomaaa]

And best of all, the 2022 Omaha tourney will be the subject of a documentary!    The RBI tourney will get a little exposure, but the film maker loves Tecmo and will focus on that.  See the teaser video below.



Nate, Ben, and I have already done a a pretty long sit down film session. The film will culminate with the 2022 tourney and crowning the champion. 
I have a loooooong list of Tecmo related bookmarks on twitter.  Many were from notable sports personalities that enjoy(ed) Tecmo Bowl.  I used to mail tourney promo packets to them about previous tourneys.  I went through my bookmarks and had a laundry list of names to give to the producer.  Guys from ESPN, NFL network, cbs sports, etc, etc.  Most everyone he contacted responded favorably and wants to be part of the project.  A few will even play in the tourney. 

Additionally CJ Wallis (Forty FPS) is in the final stages of finishing his Jim McMahon documentary.  Its likely that Jim will be in attendance as emcee and trophy presenter.  We have a couple other former players on Tecmo Bowl that are interested as well.  Its nuts.

Whatever your goofy hobby is, if you go balls out it may lead to something big.  Forty FPS has management that deals with Netflix and HBO Max.  Booya!

CJ's most notable film is the Price Is Right documentary (Perfect Bid) about the guy who figured out their pricing process and was in attendance for 35+ tapings over the year.  Had Bob Barker in it, Drew Carrey, and tons of old PIR footage.
You can watch that free on youtube here: 

also finished watching the price is right doc today and i really enjoyed it. i thought he did a splendid job helping tell that guy's story and did it in a most wholesome way

[Gantry]

Saw the Price is Right doc before, it's quite good.  Big things on the horizon

[Southwell]

I'm in '22 Tourney... keep me in the loop.

[BeefMaster]

Excellent! TbT (the guy who runs the tourney) doesn't post here very often but is usually very good about popping on to keep us abreast of schedule updates, and you can also follow him on Twitter at https://twitter.com/TECMOBOWLvsRBI for additional news (and occasional posts about the games, especially Tecmo).