John Madden Has ArrivedThe return of sports' official arbiter of cool.

Madden NFL 2005 arrives in video-game stores today, and newspapers are reporting dense concentrations of pimply faced youth. Last year, Chris Suellentrop wrote that Madden had transcended nerd culture. The game is "the new Nike, sports' official arbiter of cool." The cover of the Madden case has become the most precious real estate in sports, trumping the Wheaties box and the Sports Illustrated cover. NFL players bond during marathon gaming sessions in which they compete with their digital doppelgängers. One running back admits to playing six hours of Madden per day during the season and nearly twice that during the off-season.

PRINTDISCUSSE-MAILRSSRECOMMEND...SINGLE PAGE

FacebookMySpace Mixx Digg Reddit del.icio.us Furl Ma.gnolia SphereStumbleUponCLOSE

With Madden's popularity comes the dreaded Madden cover jinx: The cover athlete inevitably suffers a horrifying injury. Ray Lewis, be very afraid.

PRINTE-MAILRECOMMEND...RSS

FacebookMySpace Mixx Digg Reddit del.icio.us Furl Ma.gnolia SphereStumbleUponCLOSE

SPONSORED CONTENT

• Let Leftovers Be Leftovers
  That turkey samosa won't bring your Thanksgiving dinner back to life.
  Jill Hunter Pellettieri | Nov. 26, 2009
• Wherefore Turkey?
  How poultry made its way onto the holiday menu.
  Michelle Tsai | Nov. 25, 2009
• Mmm ... Turk'y
  The search for a palatable vegetarian bird.
  Juliet Lapidos | Nov. 24, 2009
• Search for more Recycled articles
• Subscribe to the Recycled RSS feed
• View our complete Recycled archive