Thanks Mike Tyson!

The other day I was watching a program about Mike Tyson.  At one point it showed the clip where he was being escorted from the courthouse to prison back in 1992 for his rape conviction.  (I tried desperately to find this clip or a picture but failed).  Now I know what you’re thinking, “So what, Mike went to jail. “  Well what struck me wasn’t the clip of Iron Mike, but the gentleman standing behind him.  He was a large black fellow dressed in his county sheriff’s uniform.  “I know that guy!” I said, and that is why I’d like to thank Mike Tyson.

You see when I was a kid, and by kid I mean 19, I worked nights as a cashier at a grocery store.  About once a week a large gentleman from the Marion Co. Sheriff’s Dept. would come in to pick up whatever necessities he had for the week and after a while we developed a friendly report with each other.  The one thing he mentioned though that really struck me was this; He said that his hobby was video games.  He had every console system available and a big screen TV dedicated to his gaming.  This struck me.  He was probably in his 30s, at least that’s what I assumed at the time, and I had never really heard of anyone of that age making video gaming their “hobby”.   “Wow that is so cool!” I thought.  I had never really considered pursuing video games beyond high school up until that day.  I never knew anyone at “that age” who played.  I could remember being a child and my father buying an Atari 2600, but he never really played it.  (On a side note, I also remember that he had to take 1 or 2 machines back to Service Merchandise because they were not working right.  Who says MS is the only one with console problems J)  I can also remember an Uncle who played on an Odyssey System, but that was mostly just with my cousin so I assumed he wouldn’t play on his own.

It would be a few years after that time before I really got into video games as an adult.  Sure, I had a Sega Genesis and toyed around with a few games, but it wasn’t until Halo came out for Xbox that I really got into gaming.  Up until now I had forgotten about Steve (I think that was his name), but I think somewhere in the back of my mind he stuck with me.  While I knew my hobby wasn’t as popular as some others with those over the age of 25, I knew I wasn’t alone.  I hope I meet Steve one day again.  I’d like to tell him about 2o2p.  I think he’d really dig it.