Video Games: Baseball video game falls shorts on realism

I have a rather unhealthy obsession with a video game, EA Sports MVP Baseball 2003 for PlayStation 2 to be exact.

I spend countless hours battling friends with super teams we have created or switching to franchise mode and playing out a season with my favorite major league team.

Even though this game provides a much-needed distraction from everyday life, I cannot help but feel cheated.

Every sports related video game on the market claims to be the most "realistic" or "lifelike," and MVP Baseball is no exception.

With "ultra-realistic player models" and new options such as Head-to-Head Home Run Showdown, one would think this game is setting the standard for others of its kind, but I think EA Sports left out some very important aspects of our national pastime that should not be overlooked.

In the middle of playing a game I think it should just start raining.

An unexpected torrential downpour that forces a rainout that will be made up with a previously unscheduled doubleheader in late September.

The player, of course, would have to save his season up to that point and walk away in bewilderment that the 8-2 lead he built will no longer count.

If a game is a blowout or goes into extra innings and the player as used all of his pitchers, I think there should be an option to bring in a position player to pitch.

It would be like when Mark Grace or Gary Gaetti pitched in a game a few years ago. The team does not have to forfeit the game and the fans get a little comic relief.

When playing in a domed stadium like Bank One Ballpark in Arizona or SkyDome in Toronto, I think play should just randomly be stopped because of falling debris from the ceiling.

This has happened numerous times in actual games so why not include it in video game versions?

I think it would be hilarious if EA Sports programmed a delay of game for when a crazed fan runs out onto the field and attacks an umpire or a first base coach.

Now, obviously this would only be allowed to happen at U.S. Cellular Field in Chicago, but due to recent events I think it would be appropriate.

Or how about if there could actually be a way to get team members suspended.

The player could take a risk and have his batter use a corked bat and hope that it does not shatter when he is at the plate. Or maybe the player could give his pitcher a little sandpaper or oil to use on the ball just to give it that added drop.

If he gets caught then he is out for eight games, but if he is not then that is one nasty curveball that nobody can seem to hit.

If you are going to make a baseball in this day in age, why not make it as realistic as possible?

Sure EA Sports wants to send a positive image to the impressionable youth of our generation, but I do not think baseball should be sugarcoated.

After all, you never know when Barry Bonds is going to be knocked out in the middle of a game because of the hazardous deteriorating roof of Olympic Stadium in Montreal.