There’s a general consensus on the internet that MVP 2005 (EA Sports) is the greatest baseball simulation ever created. Apparently, someone at EA chiseled a digital Rosetta stone that translates the grand old pastime into grand old pixels.

I have devoted the better part of my 20s to mastering this game.

The hardest difficulty, MVP Mode, requires such precise timing and patience, that I won’t start a game unless I’ve put myself in a true Zen State. Only a daily ration of bananas, Original Restaurant Style Mexicana Chips, and the finest Brita filtered tap water can put me into this rarefied mental zone.

And though my Owner’s Mode Chicago White Sox have won six consecutive championships (yes, this represents over 1,000 full games

played) and sport a winning percentage in the neighborhood of .850, I have not yet reached full achievement. You see, Owner’s Mode involves building a brand new stadium up from scratch. And the funds required to do this must be procured through a glorified Lemonade Stand-style game. Every hot dog, retro jersey, and women’s pregnancy team t-shirt must be priced and marketed to perfection. Every collectible calendar magnet giveaway must be precisely timed, and player payrolls kept in check.

And despite six seasons of unprecedented dominance, despite a roster of Proto-Gods who routinely hit .390 with 80 home runs and 200 RBIs per year, despite an entire rotation of Brendan Fraser/Steve Nebraska clones from The Scout (1998), I somehow have failed to capture the imagination of the city of Chicago.

You’re right, EA designers, $35 a ticket is simply too much to ask to see the greatest assemblage of ballplayers this side of Jesus Christ’s Annual HOF Invitational Softball game above the earthly firmament. Seriously? Are you freaking kidding me? I can’t sell out my stadium? What, in the name of Moses Fleetwood Walker are my digital Chicagoans doing with their free time? Is their some new SuperCrackoin epidemic in the 2012 Windy City that saps people of the will to go outdoors? Someone please tell me, because I’ve just defeated the rival Twins 23-2 to complete my ninth consecutive series sweep and no one seems to care.

Pass the bananas. It’s time for another futile attempt at immortality…