Cardinals' head coach Charlie Strong, frustrated over his team's 21-14 loss to the Panthers, blames Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 for his players' lack of focus on the field on CardinalSports.com:
It's young people. We're dealing with young guys who see something new, they want to try it and it just engulfs them. I heard them talking about it all week.
Young people are dealing with so much. I told them Tuesday. I get them off the practice field and we weren't sharp, so you're thinking you come back on Wednesday and we weren't sharp then.
I said, how can you allow a video game to take control of what you have in your hand and what's ahead of you... This video game is that important? We'll see how important it is on Saturday. I said, in about a week or so, you're going to be throwing that video game away.
They don't realize you can read everything they're saying 0on their social media accounts] and they're all talking about the video game. I told them, 'I can find out anything I want to about you guys, all I have to do is go to my Twitter page.'
It's all about maturity, but when you're dealing with young people everything is new and exciting to them and they're going to go try it as much as you talk about it. We had guys miss class because they stayed up all night playing that video game. It's such a big deal.
As much as I would like to offer a counter-argument, he's likely right. That's just what happens when a new Call of Duty comes out, though it does show the Panthers' lack of dedication to Modern Warfare 3. Not that it matters much on the field, but that's how it goes. When asked if he has ever played Call of Duty, he laughed and said:
No, I haven't played it, I'm not a video guy.
[Source]
