‘NBA Jam’ Brings Generations Together

If you are a sports fanatic, like I am, you have dreams of your kids being successful athletically.  You hope that they are into sports, too.  The best father-and-son times are; a day at the ballpark, watching football on Sundays, and.....playing video games together?  Believe it.  I learned a valuable lesson recently, thanks to my 10 year old son.

My son is a very good basketball player.  But getting him to sit through an entire NBA, or college game, is just about impossible.  He never cared much about the history of the game, either.  He knows that I'm a Lakers fan, and he's heard me mention names of players that were prominent in my youth.  With the new 'NBA Jam' game that we play on the Wii - we can go back to the 80's and 90's together.  It's been a fun trip.

'NBA Jam' is a very simple game.  You dunk, and you shoot three-pointers, that's pretty much it.  The real fun comes in selecting your team.  Of course, all of the teams and players that are currently good in real life, are good in the game.  Some players in the game, are WAY better than they are in real life (hello Andre Iguodala, Michael Beasley, and Trevor Ariza).  The Heat is awesome with; Lebron, D-Wade, and Chris Bosh.  Dwight Howard is unstoppable, and so are Kobe, Carmello, and Kevin Durant.  However, the real fun - and the history lesson - begins when you unlock the old-school players.

You want to know why I loved the Lakers in the 80's so much?  Play a game with Magic Johnson and James Worthy, and you'll see.  Sometimes, just for fun, I will make those two play against the Celtics Bird & McHale, and I'll just watch the game, like it was on TV.  Isaiah Thomas, Bill Laimbeer, and Dennis Rodman are all on the Pistons "Bad Boys" team.

My son is now familiar with all of these guys - even though he wasn't even born yet when they played.  He loves beating me with the Knicks (Ewing & Starks) and the Hawks (Dominique & Spud Webb).  But his favorite thing to do is reign three-pointers on me with the "old" Golden State Warriors, Tim Hardaway & Chris Mullin.

Your child probably plays video games, and if you happen to have a child that loves basketball, as well, this game is an absolute must.

Of course, you may have to deal with your kid talking smack, all of a sudden.