When it comes to video games and sports, I will always beat the drum that the nerds-vs-jocks dichotomy used to sell movie tickets in the 1980s is a lie. It’s an artificial boundary between two ideas that people think don’t go together. In reality, the strategy, dexterity, and creativity in games translate directly to sport, and vice versa. And no, I don’t just mean the EA Sports titles. With that said, I really want to see Mike Tomlin’s Minecraft build.
Endless examples show athletes playing video games and trading card games. But of course, as gaming has become a hobby enjoyed by 65% of Americans, that makes sense, given that NFL players range from 22 to 42. But even with a zombie like Aaron Rodgers on the field for Tomlin’s former team, the Pittsburgh Steelers, athletes are young, and, well, the youth loves video games.
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It’s rarer to see coaches discussed for their gaming habits, and even rarer to see them share that information. That’s why Mike Tomlin’s comments on the Today Show stand as something fun, exciting, and immediately relatable. “I’m a big Minecrafter,” Tomlin says, grinning.
Turns out, Mike Tomlin is a “Minecrafter.”
As I was writing this article, it shifted from highlighting that athletes, coaches, and sports people in general love to game to the real heart of why Tomlin’s love of Minecraft matters. Because it’s not trying to keep dispelling the same myth, but because, well, he’s a dad. And it’s that intergenerational love of something that actually has more power than anything else right now.
And, like a lot of parents, Tomlin got into gaming because of his children. When the interviewer, Craig Melvin, mentions that he didn’t know Tomlin was a gamer, he responds, “Because my kids were. And so how do I connect with them? Meet them where they are and spend time with them.”
A lot of us have some sort of core memory of a video game somewhere with our parents. For me, it was my dad realizing that he loved Rock Band drums and that the tracks that his kids were falling in love with were the sounds of his childhood and adolescence. We played for hours on the Wii, and Rock Band was only one of six games we had for that console’s lifespan.
Still, Tomlin’s kids don’t just get that memory; they get to help him preserve his joy for the game that lasted long past when theirs waned. “I started playing Minecraft when my kids were young,” Tomlin explained, clearly delighted. “I have a Minecraft city that I created, man, that I’ve been working on for twelve years.”
As Tomlin notes, his kids are out of the house now, but they still take time to make sure their dad is happy. “When they come home, they’re like, ‘Hey, Dad, pull your city up; let me see what’s up.’ My kids have taken [the city] from PS3 to PS4 to PS5. They’re into preserving it because they know I don’t have the technical knowledge.”
The joy that Tomlin has recounting this story about his apparently “pretty crazy” city is the kind of wholesome energy that we’ve started to lose in both sports and gaming news amid everything else going on. It’s an important reminder that gaming is for everyone.
“We’ve been talking recently about sharing it with the world. My oldest son is like, ‘Dad, you need to share this with the world. People need to see this city that you’ve been working on for twelve years.” As Tomlin and his kids discuss how exactly to debut the 12-year-old build to the world, I hope he knows how much this one little moment impacts those seeing it.
It’s not just that Tomlin and his kids are showcasing that gaming can bring joy regardless of the generation, because when I watched the clip, I immediately said, “I want to see it,” in the group chats it was sent in. Seeing Tomlin’s city is less about witnessing his creativity and more about experiencing and sharing in the joy you can find by reaching out to your children and, in his case, the joy that his children have been able to protect by porting it over with each new console generation.
Finding joy with your children is one thing; them giving back to you is something even sweeter.
It made me think about a conversation I recently had with my mom. The family knows that it is more likely than not that my dad will develop Parkinsons. He lost his father to it, and his father before. Now his dexterity and coordination are getting worse, and his memory is taking a hit too. Some of it is just aging, but every time he makes a mistake, we can’t help but worry.
So, a couple of weeks ago, I suggested that my mom move my brother’s Xbox downstairs into his cueva and get him into games. This year, EA Sports Madden NFL 27 and College Football 27 introduced Coach Mode. It lets players play from the perspective of a coach. You can still GM and run your College Program, but for those not fully ready to make the leap into throwing routes themselves or switching from zone to man when they notice a formation someone always runs a bubble screen out of.
While I haven’t talked to my dad about getting him into the game beyond showing him clips of my games on my phone when I see him, I think it’s time to take the leap. For Tomlin, his joy came from building a city in Minecraft with his kids and then keeping it going for 12 whole years, which is a feat not a lot of players can claim.
Now, I want to give my dad back something. Maybe it’s letting him see his Commanders win a Lombardi Trophy (something, let’s be real, may not happen in his lifetime) or the excitement of seeing the Texas Longhorns in the National Championship in a Dynasty we play together. Whatever the reason, I want to see Mike Tomlin’s Minecraft city, and I want to see what kind of team my dad builds and whether we run the same offense.
