When did you attend Auburn and what was your major?

I began at Auburn in 1990 and graduated in 1995, aka the Stan White/Patrick Nix/Dameyune "Scottish Claymores" Craig years. Fans will remember that it was Nix who lead Auburn to an undefeated season in 1993, despite the best efforts of Terry Bowden to call draw plays on every third down that season. The cruel irony of that majestic season was that I had failed to get up early enough to secure my student season tickets the day they went on sale, and therefore watched the majority of the season from home, downing cases of Keystone and yelling at the television. Which is sort of how I watch Auburn games out here in San Francisco these days.

I graduated with a degree in corporate journalism, which is another name for public relations. It's also another name for "not smart or motivated enough for the architecture program." I never really wanted to be a PR wag, however, and have so far avoided that particularly grisly fate in my career.

What was your career path from Auburn to Gamespot?

Long and winding, that's for sure. I've ever really been good at one thing--writing--so I always knew I'd be doing that somehow as a career. As a journalism student I interned at the Lee County Eagle newspaper (now known as The Auburn Bulletin). Once I graduated, I briefly edited The Tuskegee News before moving back over to the Eagle to serve as a full-time employee. From there, I made the requisite move to Atlanta to work at a few tech publications; until management decided they no longer had need of an editorial staff. Unemployed and vastly unhappy in the ATL, I got notice from my best friend--who had recently moved to the San Francisco area--that if I was willing to come out, he'd put me up until I got on my feet and found a job. I was twenty six and the idea of moving to the west coast was incredibly appealing, so I packed up and moved on without a second thought.

Getting to GameSpot was actually pretty straightforward. I saw an ad (on Craigslist I think) that GameSpot was looking for a sports editor and simply applied. Over the years, I had written for a couple of smaller sports gaming Web sites so I knew the scene very well and, of course, had some actual professional writing in my background. So I came in, did the interview, and had the job a few days later. I've been here three years this coming August. It's without a doubt the best job I've ever had--I get to play and write about the latest sports games, pimp AU whenever I can, and see the world, which ain't too bad. Better yet, it's a creatively rewarding gig that continually surprises me.

What was it like living in California during the BCS fuss of 04?

Auburn getting left out of the national championship picture in 2004 was a bitter pill at the time but I've become more philosophical about it since then. For whatever reason, it seems like Auburn just can't seem to catapult itself into the top tier of nationally recognized football programs (which includes, in on the part of the team and Auburn staff, or Tubs' calling out ESPN a few years ago. Whatever the reasons, all the program can do is keep winning football games and let everything else sort itself out. I hate to quote Al Davis but, "Just win, baby." Everything else will eventually follow.

As an aside, my wife attended USC and is a devout Trojan fan. When Auburn and SC played their home-and-home a few years ago, we made the trip both to Los Angeles and Auburn to watch both games. And though the Tigers lost both games (including a devastating shut-out at the hands of Matt Leinart on the Plains), the Auburn community made me proud by treating my Trojan-fan wife wonderfully at our home game. Everyone was friendly, welcoming her to the game, and the school. A stark contrast to how I was treated while wearing my AU jersey in Los Angeles (where one fan exhorted me to "Go home, Jethro!"). Auburn's fans continue to make me happy to bleed orange and blue.


Living on the west coast, were you aware of the amazing Al Borges before he arrived to Auburn? When you wear your Gorgeous Borges shirt in public, how do you keep random women from making out with your shirt?

I had heard of Mr. Borges before he made his way to the Plains but I don't think anyone (except maybe Coach Tubs) was prepared for the way he would open up Auburn's playbook. The things he did with Jason Campbell in 2004 alone (such as, you know, single-handedly making him a first-round NFL pick) were a measure of his greatness and I'm astonished that he hasn't been snatched up by a school as a head coach yet. I fully expected Stanford to grab him after jettisoning the floating sea-turd that was Walt Harris. We'll see how much longer we have to take advantage of Borges' greatness.

The Borges shirt is without a doubt the favorite item in my wardrobe, and I'm constantly looking for opportunities to wear it in my various video appearances on GameSpot. As for gals making out with the shirt, I consider it a matter of personal pride that this has never happened. Wearing the Gorgeous Borges shirt grants the wearer with great power which, as Spider Man can tell you, comes with great responsibility. To that end, when donning my lime green Borges paean, I am constantly monitoring the presence of females who come within a fifteen- to twenty-foot proximity to me. Should they get too close, I immediately whip out my left hand, boldly brandish my wedding ring, and command them with a firm and measured voice that I am a married man. If things get really hairy, I remind them that the "power of Borges compels them" to obey, and then lift the shirt up so that his cloth eyes make contact with theirs. Ninety nine percent of the time, it's problem solved.

A couple years ago, I got in an argument with my roommate about your review of NCAA Football. Since most pictures were of Auburn, I assumed Gamespot showed pictures based on location. Since we were viewing from Auburn – Auburn pictures were shown. My roommate said it was probably due to Auburn being one of the first teams alphabetically or possibly due to the writer's bias. I'm pretty sure I was wrong now. Is this correct?

Your roommate was correct; it's 100% writer bias. Whenever I'm playing a college sports game, I'm always playing Auburn and try to get as many Tiger screens and Tiger videogame footage on the site as possible. We used to have a guy on staff who was a huge Cal fan and also a big fan of basketball. Whenever he would work on college hoops games, he would always take pains to record Cal Bears footage and screens to go along with his reviews. It broke my heart the day I had to tell him that Cal doesn't really have a basketball team. I also reminded him that Cal's cheerleaders qualify as women only in the most technical of physiological terms. Surprisingly, he agreed.

Good idea about the locale-specific screenshots, though. I'll have to steal that idea commend you on that.

Who is more likely to know more about football strategy? The 45 year old guy who played high school football and constantly listens to sports radio or the non athletic college student from a country without football who now plays NCAA Football on the xbox on a daily basis?

While I don't think there's any substitute for people learning a sport by actually getting on the field and playing it, I think video games are perfectly legit tool for teaching the finer points of a sport's strategy. Your comparison is a tough one, however. A 45-year old former high school player will have the basic tactical stuff down but playbooks, especially in college, have gotten more complex in the past few years. To make matters worse, there's no way you can have a daily Mike & Mike in the Morning habit and not suffer some sort of permanent brain damage.

As for the foreigner with the Xbox, one has to wonder why he hasn't upgraded to a 360 yet. The original Xbox is dead, so that's strike one. Strike two is that I think there's something to be said for being fully immersed in a sport and its surrounding culture. Despite fandom being a common thread between sports viewers across the globe, it's just as hard for me to relate to the specific kind of passion a Bolton Wanderers' fan feels for his soccer team as it is for him to relate to my love for the Auburn Tigers. Put another way, we all understand the disease of fandom, but not its region-specific symptoms. As for strike three, well, this guy probably doesn't understand baseball, so there's no need for a strike three.

So I think the 45-year old will usually win out, no matter how much J.T. The Brick he listens to.

Thanks for the interview. War Eagle!
e-mail Mark at mark@theauburner.com