Sunday, January 4, 2009
Ever since I can remember I've wanted to have a room in my house dedicated to all things sports and sports gaming. I've been a bit a a collector of sports cards and other memorabilia since I was a kid so it makes sense to have a place in the house to hang out where all of that can be displayed. In the last couple of places I've lived, my wife has been great about letting me put these kind of things in the living room, but there's so much of it that it ends up junking up the place.
In our new place we have an extra room that isn't being used for anything else so I finally have the opportunity to take over a room and do my own thing. I've been calling it the "man room" which isn't so much a sexist remark about women not being interested in sports or gaming (clearly they are), but more of a way of identifying the situation in my own home. We've got two little girls ages 6 and 8 so that leaves me outnumbered, unless you count the two neutered male cats who also live with us. The man room is a place for the one male to get a bit of space from time to time. I'll be damned if the cats don't need it too because I catch them sleeping in here fairly often.
I started work on the man room a couple of months back when we first moved in, but there's still a long way to go. Here's a look at the room today and some thoughts I have about how I'd like it to look in the near future. I'll be marking the progress of the room here on my blog so I can see all of the "enhancements" I've made.
Here's the desk where I do a lot of my work, gaming, and watching football. I've always preferred gaming up close with a smaller TV. Maybe it's because I can sit and look at the computer while I'm doing my thing. I use the whiteboard for a lot of work related stuff and I have to admit that sometimes while playing NCAA, Madden, or Head coach I'll use it to put up a Draft board or a recruiting class.
The desk is a bit of a monster and looks more like something an old man should sit behind than a 27 year old gamer, so that's one of the things I'm looking to replace. It will be bittersweet because I lugged that stupid desk up the stairs when we moved here and it nearly killed me. Maybe I'll take it apart to take it back downstairs as a form of revenge. Either way I'll be glad when it's gone.
I really wanted a corkboard above the desk where I could pin whatever I wanted. It's a good spot to put ticket stubs from memorable games and some newspaper and magazine articles about Madden Nation, the fan site I used to help work on a few years back. Right now it's got a couple of autographed 8 x 10s up there because I don't have enough frames to hang all of them right now. The game covers to the right are a few signed covers I've collected over the past couple of years working for EA SPORTS. These are pretty special to me, especially for the titles whose communities I manage. I need better display for them though because the frames they are in aren't quite the right size.
Here is an ugly shelf where I put some footballs and sports cards for the time being. I found this shelf in our garage and did what I could to make it look half decent before putting all of that stuff on it. It's really small and looks kind of odd because it sits in the corner of the room across from the computer. There's a good 10 feet of unused wall space to the right of it where I'd like to put in some proper shelves and maybe a poster of two. Right now a lot of my sports cards are still shacked up in a closet and that will give me a place to pull those out and display them.
To the right of the computer is my Redskins wall. I've got nine 8x10s of former Redskins players. It's become a bit of joke because a lot of the players haven't worked out with the team (Champ Bailey, i still love you) or ended up not having very good careers (Albert Connell and Rod Gardner, this means you). Fortunately there are a few memorable guys up there like the late, great Sammy Baugh, Ricky Sanders, and Charlie Taylor. Truth be told, most of the good autographed stuff I have isn't of Redskins players. I definitely need to step my game up in that regard.
This small grouping of 8 x 10s is "legend central." I put together a special space for players who are either Hall Of Fame worthy or damn close to it. Right here is Rod Woodson, Tim Brown, Roger Craig, Andre Reed, Marvin Harrison, and the tandem of Joe Montana and Jerry Rice. Not a Washington Redskin in the bunch, but still a great group of pro football legends.
I'm pretty excited about doing some more work to this room. I think it's got a lot of potential but it needs some polish... mostly in the form of better furniture and displays. I spend a lot of time there (hopefully not enough to piss off my wife too much) and I always find myself at ease when I'm surrounded by some of my best sports and work memories. Hopefully the next time I post about the man room I'll have made significant progress.
-raczilla
