The general premise of the show is as follows:

In each episode, the gamers participate in a mini-tournament. The team that finishes the tournament with two losses must send one of its players to play against a free agent in order to stay on the bus. If they beat the free agent, they stay on the bus. If they lose to the free agent, then the free agent takes their spot on the bus. Obviously, the point is to stay on the bus as long as you can to play for the $100,000 in New York City. Here’s what happened this week.

EPISODE 1

The players selected their teams and played the mini-tournament in Kansas City. PG-13, the only woman competitor in the history of the show, was paired up with Prodigy. This team was the first to fall in two straight games in the mini-tournament, sending PG-13 in to the free agent game against Panoramic. The game wasn’t even close as Panoramic defeated PG-13 14-3. Panoramic used the Kansas City Chiefs and PG-13 went with the Cincinnati Bengals. Panaramic (the correct way he spells it) then took his rightful place on the bus and PG-13 was sent packing.

EPISODE 2

The gamers suited up for another elimination tournament. Houseshoe and Coach lost a pair of games, throwing Houseshoe in to the free agent round. Houseshoe waited for his free agent opponent to arrive when up pulled Sirus the Virus. Houseshoe was excited because he had defeated Sirus the only other time he played him. Sirus must have been working on his game because he edged out Houseshoe, sending him home. Sirus took a place on the bus, much to the surprise of his fellow bus-mates.

Spankeee’s take

I came in to this season not a huge fan of the Madden Nation series. However, after giving it a little more of a chance, I am starting to see that any added exposure the Madden community can get is a plus. Here is my breakdown of this week in Madden Nation.

Favorite gamer: Coach. The guy was just having straight up fun playing Madden. He didn't take himself too seriously. The icing on the cake was his break-dancing moves after scoring a touchdown on Delph. The man’s got some moves.

Least favorite gamer: PG-13. She ran her mouth WAY too much to over compensate for the fact that she was a female gamer. Her loud shrill voice pierced my ear drums to the point I left the room. Then, after her barrage of insults, she almost started crying after she lost to Panoramic. Way to represent female gaming!

Favorite moment: Houseshoe pounded Santana Moss in a game of Madden. The best part about it was, Moss used the Redskins and kept passing to himself. Once Houseshoe guarded Moss on the game, he started to pull away.

What I liked: I really like the set-up. Plus, I like how they saved a lot of quality gamers as free agents, so that the free agent rounds are really competitive. Who would have known, Houseshoe getting eliminated in the first round?

What I didn’t like: They all went a little overboard on the trash talking. I know it’s a staple on the Madden circuit, but not something I want to listen to at midnight after a long day.

Players currently left on the bus: Coach, Delph, Hollywood, J Rhoads, Jet, Panoramic, Prodigy, Sirus the Virus.