Hollywood Brown Claims Madden 20 NFL Celebrity Tournament Title
The trend of video game tournaments has continued over the course of this month. That started with Devin Booker of the Suns winning the NBA 2K Players Tournament and has continued on through the month of April. The MLB The Show 20 Players League finishes up its regular season this week and the playoffs will take place with the finals going next weekend. We heard about the NHL Gaming Player Challenge, which starts Thursday and runs for the next few weeks as well. As for football, the Madden NFL 20 Celebrity Tournament took place over the past week, with the championship game taking place on Sunday afternoon, televised on ESPN2.
It was an entertaining tournament, with the field comprised of several NFL players, along with members of the media, the music industry and UFC. The opening round brought several one-sided contests, highlighted by DeAndre Hopkins beating Lil Yachty 32-14, Melvin Gordon rolling past Cam Jordan 28-6, Marquise “Hollywood” Brown trouncing YG 43-14 and Trevon Diggs cruising to a 40-0 walloping of ESPN’s Omar Raja. By comparison, there was only one game decided by one score in the eight first-round matchups as UFC fighter Daniel Cormier knocked off Denver quarterback Drew Lock by a 20-13 count.
In the quarterfinals, Diggs, who stepped in for his older brother Stefon, defeated ESPN’s Katie Nolan 26-14 to advance to the semifinals. Brown crushed Gordon 40-0, creating a little controversy by calling time out with one second to play in order to kick a field goal to pad the final score. That is the ultimate sign of disrespect to an opponent when you are playing video games, running up the score with the game well in hand. Snoop Dogg, who downed Kansas City tight end Travis Kelce in the opening round 36-24, upended Cormier by a 27-13 count while UFC fighter Chris Weidman dispatched Hopkins after he rolled past Devonta Freeman in the opening round of the tournament.
In the semifinals, Brown continued his successful run as he ran over Weidman, representing the Chiefs, 59-35 sticking with his own team, the Ravens, throughout the tournament. Meanwhile, Snoop Dogg punched his ticket to the title game as he defeated the Diggs brothers in the semifinals, setting the stage for an entertaining championship contest.
The title game saw Snoop roll with the 49ers and their power run game while Brown, as was his trend during the tournament, stuck with the Ravens. There’s something to be said for team loyalty, but let’s not overlook the fact that playing with the reigning MVP, Lamar Jackson, and his 99 speed never hurts when it comes to playing the game either. Still, Snoop rode some opportunistic defense with a punishing ground game to take it to Brown in the first half, rolling to a 28-16 lead on a scoring run by Raheem Mostert late in the second quarter. Things unraveled in the second half for Snoop Dogg however, as slowing Jackson became more of a challenge.
Brown, behind the run game of Jackson and a pair of interceptions of San Francisco QB Jimmy Garoppolo, outscored Snoop and the 49ers 22-0 in the third quarter to take a 38-28 lead heading to the final quarter. Snoop drew the 49ers within a field goal early in the fourth but Brown struck again. This time, he used himself, taking a kickoff back 99 yards for a score to restore his 10-point advantage. Snoop drew within three again at 45-42 but ran out of steam. Brown scored twice in the closing minutes, calling his own number again on one of them, to salt the game away and earn the title.
As a result, Brown will have $25,000 donated to Feeding America on his behalf for winning the tournament. From a betting perspective, you could have cashed in a pretty solid return on investment had you laid some cash on Brown to win the tournament. He went off at +800 odds before the tournament began yet proceeded to whip each of his four opponents by at least 18 points. That’s a pretty nice cash-in for those of you who got behind Hollywood in the tournament. Had Snoop Dogg cashed in with the win and held his halftime lead, he was going off at ridiculously long +2500 odds before the tournament began, which was surprising given his knowledge of football and his penchant for playing video games.
Now, the Esports world and the Madden fan base would love to see a no holds barred cage match between Brown and Chargers safety Derwin James, who won The Checkdown x Madden Tournament earlier this month in addition to the FOX Esports Madden NFL Invitational last month.
