Career modes should focus on the end of careers, not the beginning

Quick, when was the last time you enjoyed a sports game's career mode? It has been a minute for me. We shouldn't be shocked. How many times can we take a fresh-faced rookie into the NBA and ride the bench until things get interesting? I've started NBA 2K's career mode every year for seven or eight years, I don't remember the last one I was compelled to finish.

Madden 18 and 19's Longshot modes earned scorn and derision, but I would argue they were on the right path. The idea of getting a second chance at pro football through a reality show might have seemed far-fetched in 2019, but now? How many players do we find ourselves rooting for because they had a compelling story on HBO's Hard Knocks? I'm convinced Jerry Jones drafted Deuce Vaughn at least partially because they were filming a documentary and it made good television.

Longshot also dealt with protagonist Devin Wade's struggles with mental health after his father died. Not enough games, sports sims, or otherwise, deal with such issues. Any story is better after the protagonist has gone through something, even more so if it's something we can relate to. In far too many sports titles, the hero's journey is simply getting to a 99 overall rating.

I believe more sports games should portray the enemy that comes for us all: Father Time. Instead of letting me build up a superhuman athlete, give me a pitcher who has lost the zip on his fastball. Show me a flamethrower who can't run it up there at 103 mph anymore and how he deals with his new reality. I would love to play a pitcher trying to figure out a new pitch mix. It's one of the most interesting things to me as a baseball nerd. No game approved by MLB could do this, but what if I had the choice to tamper with the ball? It's a real thing that happens, but only games such as Super Mega Baseball in its pre-EA era are allowed to do it.

One of my favorite story modes from years past was the Blitz series after it launched without NFL ties. It had storylines dealing with seedy gambling interests, which all of a sudden feels more timely than ever. What if somebody approached your fast-fading football player with an offer they couldn't refuse? The branching story possibilities are endless, but we don't get them in most games.

Remember the soap operas that unfolded around Joe Montana and Brett Favre when they moved on? Imagine a story in which you forced a trade and then marched back into your old home stadium leading the opposition, as Favre did. That would be so much better than doing the NFL Draft combine for the 50th time in a video game.

In boxing, I am reminded of when cuddly old grandpa George Foreman laid out Michael Moorer, who had clearly underestimated him. Strategy and savvy can defeat youth and speed, but too few games give us such an opportunity. Somebody somewhere could do a game that encompasses Rocky Balboa's whole career. We could go from fresh-faced rookie to beaten-down old man with a little something left in the basement. It is a fictional career, but it has made billions of dollars for a reason.

Am I biased because I'm not quite the spry young lad I used to be? Sure, but there are a lot of gamers like me out there. We're closer to the end of our gaming careers than the beginning, but we still have a lot left to prove. I bet we'd respond well to some career modes with heroes in a similar position. Younger gamers might learn a little something about playing their favorite sports as well.