Football and video games

Me and my Brother Alan have played video games together for quite a few years now, especially football games. We have subscribed to a franchise of football games for a number of years and have upgraded almost on an annual basis. We normally play these games when together, normally at his house until the early hours of the morning. It's a lot of fun but our family doesn't understand what we get out of it. It's probably unhealthy in some ways but in others, it's our way of bonding which I like to think is a good thing.

Historically, Alan and I haven't had a serious pastime that we both subscribe to simultaneously other than going to the pub, larking about and following our favourite Premiership football team: Everton. We have followed our team religiously since we were kids. We were lucky enough to see our team's last great success in the 1980's when we went to most home games for several seasons and saw them win the League championship, FA Cup and European Cup Winners Cup. I was in my early twenties and Alan was a teenager at the time. We were at Goodison Park for the game that most Evertonians of out generation consider to be the greatest game ever seen at our historic stadium: our 3 - 1 win against Rudi Voller's Bayern Munich team in the semi-final of the 1985 European Cup Winner's Cup. That has gone down in most Evertonian's memory as a momentous occassion. For the past few years I have also made an annual trip up to Liverpool around the time of Alan's Birthday in November to go and see whatever home game is scheduled for that weekend and also have a few pints in the many hospitable taverns around the city centre. It's a special event and I hope we can maintain it for the rest of our lives.

Anyway, Alan and I are quite competitive. I'm five years older than he is so he has age on his side and I have talent - enough said. However, when it comes to football video games, it has to be said that he is better than me. He is the goal scorer and I'm the playmaker which kind of matches our personalities. He's a direct, straightforward type of person who knows what he wants and goes and does it and I fanny around the outside making things look good but can't score.

Nowadays, we play video games over the internet on Xbox Live and we've just discovered a new game called Fifa 09. We played a game tonight for the first time and it was such a laugh. Guess who won?