The Daily Grind

Andy Latack

Sega - the greatest study aid ever created

At this point in my college career, I'd like to think I've pretty much mastered the art of procrastination. I can whip out papers the day they're due with the greatest of ease (although my professors might dispute that). I have thoroughly convinced myself that the relaxation I derive from not taking notes today is worth the certain stress it causes me down the line. And I am a firm believer that written material is not truly digested unless it is read for the first time just hours before the exam.

I can even dupe myself into looking at my deficiency as a sign of mental fortitude - hey, I just do my best work with my back against the wall. But let's be honest - my deft ability to procrastinate results from a fierce sense of laziness and not much else.

There has been one development that has helped me wrap up my collegiate procrastinating career as strongly as I started it - video games. Specifically, the Sega Dreamcast.

I've always been a veritable video game addict. I was weaned on video games, playing Pac Man and Frogger on an Atari 800 for hours when other kids my age were developing motor skills. I just recently caught up to everyone.

And with spring break nearly upon us, it's making me think about as clearly as one of Mike Tyson's opponents at the post-fight press conference. So I've spent a lot of time surrendering to the world of video games, which keeps my mind free from worrying about things like why my parents sent me to this venerable institution in the first place.

The Sega Dreamcast is the Vince Carter of the electronic gaming industry. Dreamcast burst on the scene earlier this year, taking the world (or at least my house) by storm and redefining the practice of procrastination everywhere.

Sega's newest development was a trifle saddening, because it represented a changing of the guard. I had previously honed my time-wasting skills on a Sony PlayStation, which became a high-tech paperweight upon the conception of the Dreamcast. With the development of games like "NBA 2K" - where the players look identical to their professional namesakes and move just as fluidly -the new system brings back memories of another implement of procrastination by the same company, the Sega Genesis.

If the Dreamcast is Vince Carter, then the Genesis is more like Hakeem Olajuwon. The Dream was in his prime in the mid-90's, but he can still come strong from time to time, so you can't completely write him off. I can credit the Genesis with helping me through my formative years as a budding procrastinator. When I had that geometry exam during my freshman year of high school, I was spending a lot more time learning that Mario Lemieux's 'fake-right-shoot-left' move would literally score every time in "NHL '92" than calculating the volume of a conic section.

On another historic note, I can trace my development as a college procrastinator to a single event involving the Genesis early in my freshman year. I had an exam at nine o'clock the next morning - you know, the 'high-school-started-at-eight-so-class-everyday-at-nine-should-be-cake' logic - and was fairly worried about it. But after five or six games in my hall's "College Football '97" tournament, it was soon daylight and I was about as prepared for my exam as Jamal Crawford is for the NBA.

But I aced the test, a landmark occurrence which vaulted me into the ranks of procrastinators everywhere. All of a sudden there was no stopping me (at least until I tried a similar technique with a non-intro class).

But as I near the very scary prospect of graduation, my addiction to video games is beginning to trouble me.

I mean, honestly, I can't play Dreamcast for the rest of my life. Because I'm sure they'll come out with something better in a few years.

- Despite playing a fair amount, Andy Latack routinely shoots under fifty percent from the free throw line in "NBA 2K" on the Sega Dreamcast. E-mail him at latack@umich.edu.