A few days ago would have been the release of NCAA '19, and this site responded with a thread discussing what that game would have been like. Today, ESPN released a tremendous article about the dedicated souls who keep NCAA '14 from turning into a fossil. 

The article centers mainly around Jarrod Bullard who works with 9 others to create updated rosters every year. 

Every player is created from scratch, down to his name, likeness and hometown. Then there's the empirical method they've devised for assigning player attributes like speed, agility and strength -- those "little stupid numbers," as Bullard's fiancée put it.

"She'll get up at 3-4 in the morning and go, 'Ah! You're still up working on this game? You're not even playing!'" Bullard said. "But I'm editing. Let. Me. Live. I'm living my best life right now.

"She thinks all of us are psycho. She calls us nerds."

My favorite part of this story, is the NCAA players not named O'Bannon. What seems to be forgotten, is the hundreds of student-athletes who could not wait to see themselves in a video game. 99% of them did not care about compensation, as seeing themselves on the Xbox was compensation enough. Felipe Franks mentions in the article being shocked to see himself in the video game, and the motivation it gave him to improve his rating. 

I still play and love NCAA '14, and owe it all to these 10 individuals who put in the time and effort to keep it alive. I've always been impressed with their rating system, and feel like it is extremely accurate. If you're thinking that these guys are compensated for their service, you'd be wrong. 

Louis Burhans says it takes him on average 25 hours to finish editing a single team. Multiply that by the 30 teams he's in charge of and you're talking about 750 total hours.

Never mind that Burhans has a full-time job and a wife and two children.

"You have to be borderline insane or a superfan -- probably both -- to do this," he said. "What rational person would want to sit down and spend 20-plus hours on one team for free? And then do it over and over and over and over?"

I am beyond thankful and impressed with the work these guys put in, and they deserve loads of recognition. 

P.S. The article then shifts to O'Bannon, which is also worth the read, but is not the purpose of my post, so I'll leave that to you. 

Enjoy!