DeAngelo Hall Is A Little Angry With EA Sports
As I mentioned earlier, cornerback DeAngelo Hall was practicing like a man possessed today.
I had seen the news late last week that Hall's rankings had taken the biggest drop of any player's in this year's edition of Electronic Arts' wildly successful Madden football videogame, plummeting 25 points from a 93 to a 68. And I had seen Hall's angry comments about that ratings hit on his Twitter feed.
So it didn't take a genius to put together the aggressive, enthusiastic display on the practice field with the Twittered frustration, and after practice Hall confirmed my suspicions.
"Ah, I'm feelin' good, man. We just keep trying to get better, but, yeah, I'm trying to blow off some steam with my Madden rating."
So I asked the obvious question: had he heard about Ethan Albright's legendarily horrible Madden rating?
"I heard that," Hall told me, "but it had kinda been in one in ear out the other. But as the release date gets closer, I'm starting to get a little bit more paranoid, I'm thinking about trying to get my name and likeness pulled off the game entirely. 'Cause this is bull."
Well, I suggested, maybe you could write a strongly-worded letter, like (LANGUAGE WARNING!) the one attributed to Ethan?
"I know that letter, but I don't need that letter. I don't think that letter's going to change anybody's opinion."
Well, what about EA making in-season improvements to the ranking?
"They do that as the season goes on, so hopefully if I grab ten or twelve [interceptions], and get my respect back, my dignity back ... we'll see."
By this point it was clear that Hall was legitimately bummed out by this turn of events, and I said so.
"Well, yeah," he said, and paused. "I'm a little disappointed in the system. Good thing I don't play the game for Madden ratings."
Speaking of DeAngelo Hall's Twitter feed, I also had to ask him about his report that he had met the US ambassador to London -- at the private third portion of Santana Moss's Multi-Phase Birthday Extravaganza, no less. Or, more specifically, I had to ask what he and the ambassador had found to talk about.
"The next [NFL] trip over there," he said. "He's trying to do something about that, so" -- he shrugged -- "shoot. He actually hasn't been appointed yet, but he said President Obama's set to appoint him this week, so soon-to-be-appointed.
"But now I got a connection so that whenever I go over there, I can walk around like I'm Michael Jackson with a little bit of security. That's why I'm always scared to go places like that."
And that's the life of DeAngelo Hall as of June 1, 2009: motivated by a video game and hobnobbing with ambassadors at private parties.
(Follow Hall on Twitter at Dhall23, and me at Redskinsblog.)
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
6-01-2009 @ 3:09PM
abrlcklnthewall said...
Yeah, DeAngelo has a legitimate gripe. He showed up and pulled in a few picks, does he not get credit for that? The notion that he's even below 80 is something that I find offensive. I'd at least put him above 85 based on his performance in the 2nd half of the season. EA hates the Redskins though, that is a well documented fact. (Not really, but they seem to like to keep even our best players at ratings below what they should be)
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6-01-2009 @ 3:46PM
Jeremy W said...
Deangelo Hall thinks he needs security to travel to London(or "places like that", whatever he means by that..) Deangelo Hall is a moron. No one in London knows or cares who he is so I doubt he needs Micheal Jackson like security there.
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6-01-2009 @ 3:56PM
Adam said...
Everyone is judging Hall on what happened with the Raiders, and totally ignore the second half of the season with the Skins. Maybe he wasn't elite with us, but he was better than a 68.
At any rate, this is just more motivation for him.
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6-01-2009 @ 4:03PM
lou22152 said...
Don't worry Hall....you'll finish the year with a rating in the 90's and a trip to Honolulu!!
HAIL NIGGS!!
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6-01-2009 @ 6:32PM
fsaunders said...
It's good to see that missing the playoffs, finishing dead last in the division, and going 2-5 as a Redskin is not motivating, but the features of a computer-generated simulation of him as an individual pushes his buttons.
Way to shed that stereotype, MeAngelo!!!
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6-02-2009 @ 1:00AM
mtwang14 said...
i read in article on either espn or ea sports about the new madden game. From what i have heard, the makers of madden changed the way that they did the rating system this year. Apparently there are gonna be only few players that are rated in the 90s and high 80s (like peyton, Adrian Peterson, Portis, etc.). The rest of the players like the mediocre starters perhaps maybe that once had ratings in the 80s like david garrard, ryan grant, jake delhomme, or matt schaub are gonna see their ratings fall to the 70s or 60s. The creators said they wanted to do this to show that there is a difference and actually disparity in performance between a superstar like manning and an average qb like garrard because in past maddens there did not seem to be a noticeable difference in the in-game play between elite players and average ones. They also said you may see more players ranked in the 50s and perhaps a few in the 40s. However, I do think that is a bit low for Hall.
Here is the link to the article http://insideblog.easports.com/archive/2009/02/09/madden-nfl-10-player-ratings-a-new-philosophy-a-new-era.aspx
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6-02-2009 @ 1:17AM
CharlieMiller said...
That's interesting, I hadn't heard that. Sounds like a potential game breaker if they don't pull it off right... though really, I've always felt Manning was a little underpowered in the game, his release way too slow and such. Should be interesting to see how it plays out.
Given that, we're really gonna have reason to complain is Portis isn't in the 90s. If last years performance with an utterly abysmal O-line isn't proof of his dominance, I don't know what is.
6-02-2009 @ 9:14AM
daniel.callison said...
Portis is 94, Cooley is 91, Charlie Miler, did you even READ the link or know ANYTHING about Madden???
Sucks that the redskins had 2 of the biggest shakers, Hall dropping 25 and Thomas going from an 81 to a 62??? I dont think there rating system accounts for injuries well.
Interetesting to see Kelly's starting rating. If he is higher than Devin i will be pretty upset. At least Devin scored a TD!
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6-03-2009 @ 6:32PM
corriemac7 said...
When i read that EA put D Halls rating less than 80 i was really offended and im not him.. 65 thats an insult, im really starting to believe that EA really do hate the Skins or the whole staff is a bunch of Dallas fans. Yeah the first half of his season wasnt so good but still not a 65, and he came to us the second half and was a stand up corner, anyway thanx alot EA for not giving me a fair chance to win a game of Madden based on stats...
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