The pull of nostalgia can be mighty powerful, and so while OS user Cam Fan asked on the forums about everyone’s EA Sports College Football 25 pre-release rituals, it’s really about the old days because, well, we haven’t had a college football game in 10-plus years.
In some ways, those days feel like just yesterday, and so it has been very funny reading some of the responses about people’s old (and new) rituals. There is a convergence of sorts though taking place as some have to think about how to fuse the old with the new. OS user TripleCrown9 goes into that in some detail.
My pre-release ritual is waiting impatiently for the past 11 years lol. I usually do pick up a national coverage magazine, or now that the internet has advanced a decade I may spend a long time watching old games or watching highlight videos of various players/teams.
Some of us are even chasing those old highs in a sense, which OS user illwill10 explains.
This is going to be the first physical disc game that I have bought in a long time. This will be the first game I actually pre-order probably since NCAA 12 or 13. I never seen the purpose of pre-ordering games, especially in the last decade when the only benefits were pre-order bonuses that were geared towards games I didn’t play. But, I want that the old Gamestop experience where I pre-order this game and wait for them to call me to say it’s ready for pickup.
Robo-voice or not, that is a good feeling — except when they forget to call and so you have to call them to check. The midnight GameStop release is more rare these days but still an option at times, and OS user offensive_junkie is damn sure going for it.
Midnight pick up at GameStop. Play it all night. I have two kids now. I’m putting them to bed an hour early with some melatonin lol.
Speaking of classic rituals, OS user TarHeelPhenom goes into some detail to explain his old ones:
Way back when, I used to get the Athlon National and ACC magazine in anticipation for football season and making rosters for the game. I would also intentionally stop playing last year’s game two weeks before the new one dropped to get ready for the new game.
I like that some people called out other forms of media as well. Whether it’s music or movies, there’s plenty of ways to get fired up for a new release. OS user Ghost of the Year calls out a variety of rewatches on his list:
1 – Marx Brothers Horse Feathers, for the umpteenth time. I just saw it last, either late January/early February.
2 – Donovan McNabb’s last game at the Carrier Dome, 1998, beat The U 66-13.
3 – Spike Lee’s Jim Brown All-American documentary.
4 – A kind of newer tradition for me, pre-release, watch The Express Ernie Davis movie.
5 – Highlights from Syracuse 1960 Cotton Bowl triumph over Texas Littlehorns.
6 – Robin Williams/Kurt Russell Best Of Times movie.
OS user Kid OS explains how he used to watch the MLB Home Run Derby before his parents would take him to GameStop at midnight, and I got to say that’s pretty sick. But the other part of the ritual is what I want to draw attention to.
I was around all of the old boards, always scouring for info on the upcoming NCAA game. Guys would record E3 video on their cell phones, then upload those massive files online. Posters here would post about how the Walmart on route 7 in TexArkana has the game early and is selling it.
This is the stuff of legend that I remember most. It was always so damn funny reading people’s stories about trying to fool the random employee at Target or wherever into selling the game early. As is the case with many games, the company would send the game before it was actually out, and so you’d get these situations where the game is at the store and so you ask an employee — in a very casual way of course — if they have the game. If they knew the drill, they didn’t give it to you, but you could sometimes fool others into selling it early since they just wouldn’t understand why it wasn’t in their system yet.
This would lead to some making those long drives to a random Walmart in the hopes of pulling the same trick, only to find out that store was now sold out or another employee wasn’t as giving. They were devastating stories to read but great content.
And then there were some of the crazier stories that were made all the crazier because they were so short and to the point. Stuff like, “I got the game, it fell off the back of a truck” would raise as many questions as the ones you want answered about what’s actually in the game itself, but that’s why they were the best.
In any case, sometimes it’s the simplest rituals that make the most sense, and OS user TDKing is keeping it mighty simple:
Buy lots of beer, play game.
Tip of the cap and the mug to everyone out there, be sure to share any new or old rituals you have in the thread.
