The average true football fan probably can dedicate three percent of their vocabulary to John Madden. In fact, John Madden 101 is probably more educational for today’s kids than what their teachers are blabbing. They may be in school for seven hours a day, but their attention may be there for thirty minutes of that. When they are playing Madden against friends, they are concentrating every second.

John Madden, a legend before most of our times, and yet has transformed the world of football more than any coach in NFL history. Nobody can breakdown plays better than he can. Anyone can break down a play by the books, but Madden is creative with his perspective views. He will notice the strangest things and make them into perfect sense.

His energetic knowledge is what helped revive Monday Night Football, and is why NBC pursued him with mega dollars. Everything in Madden’s life has something to do with football, and his love of the game will never go away.

Who would have thought, that true love could turn into business? When he first started out as a commentator for CBS in the 80’s, the contract definitely was probably a chump salary at best. As the revenue in sports grew, so did the video game era. It was perfect timing, and Madden jumped on the idea of having his name branded with a football game.

From day one, he wanted it as realistic as can be. None of this cyber ball type video game, where it looks like marching band members moving to spots on the field. He was behind the scenes, and a mastermind into developing and clearing errors in the game play.

The game has grossed remarkable sales and has shown no signs of ever having a challenger. The Gameday’s, Quarterback Club, and the Joe Montana football games never stood a chance in surviving against Madden. Its fan base is too strong and devoted to ever change over.

A non-sports fan will try to argue that Madden looks the same every year. That is the stupidest thing I have ever heard. Every year new features and little noticeable things are added to make the game even more realistic. It is so smooth the way it has been constructed, and that is why a non-football fan cannot open their eyes to the smaller things changed.

The loyalty will never go away. It is like candy canes on a Christmas tree, to a previous Madden purchaser. It will be in their Xbox or Playstation come the release date. Put it down with the annual doctor visit, because it is a routine yearly check off.

When your buddies are ready for a tournament, the only question is who is bringing the copy and how many extra controllers are needed.

It is the only game that does not need to be tested, or see if your friend has. If a friend has it and you go to over to challenge, you will be blown out. Then you will exit out and head to the closest store, and quietly practice at home to hone your skills.

The preparation of playing the game by yourself is needed, if you want to compete with serious Madden gamers. The infamous Madden Challenge has grown into a huge national success, and furthermore on internet game play.

I will not argue I was one of many Madden fans that purchased ESPN’s NFL2k5 last season. It did offer a few different aspects, but it is overall functioning and game play was not near Madden. It quickly became buried and an after thought whenever video game play was needed.

Madden 06’s release is right around the corner. For the ump-teenth time I will grab another copy.

The creator in John Madden deserves much more attention than what he gets. The game could have became sloppier when the dollar sign became involved, or Madden could have easily exited calling games and lived a prosperous quiet retirement. Instead, neither his announcing or business side has fell off. His tireless work continues to prove his excellence in the football world.

Training camp battles exist on every roster, and are one of the main reasons that coaches push their athletes hard in camp. They want to know who can gut it out for a complete season, and whose talent truly outshines one another. For the most part the athletes that have to out duel each other are backups or special team hopefuls. Solidified starters have the insurance to succumb to off-season rust, and work their way back into things. Coaches may not be happy, but it is expected with veterans. Getting back in shape, turns into the veteran aspect of training camp.

A starting running back is an overused term in today’s NFL world. Just because the running back is a starter, does not mean the stat column of carries will show that. The range varies greatly now with a lot of backs, and that is a good thing.

The term “starter” should be labeled as crutch carries. If the starter is used too much they are going to miss a stretch during a season. The span could be a few weeks to the whole year and be a severe crutch all season for the franchise. If the crutch carries were reduced, who knows how that could have prevented an injury.

With the majority of teams becoming smarter and using a tandem split carry system, it has changed running backs into an even more dynamic force. Backup running backs are like the sixth man off the bench in basketball. They are an important catalyst that brings that unexpected change of pace that can ignite a drive.

A couple of years ago the designated backup running back, was either a brute fullback type goal line runner or referred to as a scat back. Versatility has changed that, as big backs have enough shiftiness now and the Warrick Dunn’s and Tiki Barber’s of the world have thrown scat back out of NFL terminology.

Running backs are going to get banged up, and it has nothing to do with the size of the back. They get hit all the time, and it just takes that one hit to cause the same type of injury on a 200 pound back or a 230 pound back. You can look at trends and durability, but if a back is being pummeled the stress is too immense on the body. Teams now have lessened the load a bit, to prevent early wear and tear on their main backs.

Jamal Anderson is wondering where the extra five to seven carries off his back were in 1998.

A quarterback may be thrown to the ground ten times a game, and the affects are vivid on the next sequence of plays. A coordinator may have to call a run or a screen, just because the quarterback is shaken up that bad. When the off-season comes around the quarterback can be heard saying they will be resting up, from the beat downs they have taken.

If a quarterback is that bruised, imagine how a running back feels midway and at the end of a season? It is unimaginable and amazing that a back can come back and repeat another successful campaign. Stringing seasons of greatness together is going to fade out more and more in the future.

When Ricky Williams carried the football 775 times in two seasons with Miami, his mind probably started hallucinating for more reasons than what he was smoking. The benefits of him walking away for a year, probably has completely changed the future duration of his career. Miami was working his legs to feel like they were forty when he was only in his mid twenties.

No one wanted to talk about that when Williams announced retirement last season. The fact that Ronnie Brown is in Miami, makes Williams even happier. He will be lucky to get 150 carries. Meaning he will go from carrying 775 times in a two-year span, to 150 in a two year span. That is a huge drop off rate, and will be enough to recoup his legs to the status they should be.

Everyone is worried about Tennessee’s new tandem of Chris Brown and Travis Henry. Who is going to win the job? Is Tennessee ready to write off Chris Brown?

Quit worrying, this is the latest style of backfields and it is only going to grow. Look at the league a year or two ago, compared to now. The numbers have jumped drastically in the new look philosophy of having a collegiate type tandem system at running back.

What this system does more than anything is bring out the second running back’s skills even more. Is the starter a product of the offensive line or a legit hands down number one back? Watching Kansas City last season, you could say that maybe Priest Holmes would only be a great instead of stellar back on another team. When Derrick Blaylock and Larry Johnson are able to have monster years, it is an obvious fact.

Flip it the other way around. If a running back is off to a struggling year, and suddenly the backup is showing more, than ding-ding there will be a new starter. It is the type of judgment coaches think they have locked down in the off-season, but there is only one way to find out and that is in a real game.

Bettis-Staley… Dillon-Faulk… Dunn-Duckett…Westbrook-Bulkhalter. Those were the backfields of the four teams that made it to their conference championship game. Success is strongly dependent on use of depth in the backfield.

Drew Rosenhaus may be the ultimate negotiator in the NFL, but he may be the instigator of a future NFL lockout. Hearing the word “holdout” in the past five to seven years was never a major cause for concern. Approaching the 2005 season though, there is an alarming jump with new agreements not even close. Is this going to be good or bad for the future of the NFL?

This test group of athletes holding out for bigger demands will be the true indicator of how far player’s can test franchises. With the salary cap in affect in the NFL, it’s difficult for franchises to make everyone happy and maintain a great NFL team. It just can’t happen, and the greed needs to exit from player’s heads to realize that. The pay cuts and sacrifices are going to have to be made in order to keep their team on a level of Super Bowl contention.

Terrell Owens is a prime example. His main objective currently is more money. It’s looking highly doubtful that will happen, and if I were the Philadelphia Eagles general manager I wouldn’t budge either. Yet, Owens is needed for the immediate future as he was the main key ingredient in the offenses success last season. This was a team that nearly knocked off the Patriots and should be poised to head back. Instead this side show is going to throw them off a little bit, and likely make way for teams like the Falcons or Vikings.

What happened to athletes caring more about a ring as they get older? The will to winning has taking a backseat to money. Instantaneous success is what athletes want; both in their pockets and on the field. I guarantee if Owens were to get a new huge contract and the Eagles were to have a 5-11 season, Owens would be back in the news demanding a trade. The loyalty to franchises is being abused just as much on the player’s side of things, as from the front office to its players.

The tug of war battles can only be pulled back and forth so much, before one side breaks for good and is unhappy. The revenue in sports has resulted an increase in contracts since the early to mid 90’s, to where it is at today. Contracts have been stipulated by franchises to fit the criteria they fill should fit the bill of that athlete.

What it all boils down to, is that this contract was agreed upon from the get go. Athletes act like they’ve signed a life long contract, when it was a year or two ago that they put their signature on that piece of paper. Honoring that contract and earning every penny of it, should be their primary goal. Instead squabbling to earn millions of more dollars is in their head.

Dollar signs, dollar signs, and more dollar signs. That’s it.

This current stage is going to give the ten to twelve athletes currently holding out their joy. They’ll get signed, but its precedent is only going to cause ramifications in the very near future. The tip of the ice is just breaking, and when more and more athletes decide to holdout next season, the ice is going to crack. The year after that, it may break and that’s when a lockout may be lurking.

It’s outrageous that it will happen, but it’s the best reality show in tell in sports right now. The media and fans are watching the disputes occur back and forth like a childish argument.

Terrell Owens was recently on Sportscenter stating that NFL athletes should have a complete guaranteed contract like they do in the NBA. Wrong, with a roster as big as the NFL just times the “busts” of the Derek Anderson’s, Allan Houston’s, etc times three. The only guarantees should be the ones already implemented into NFL contracts, and those are incentives.

Maybe adjusting from the regular yearly incentives and turning it into recurring would be better. That way if an athlete keeps having Pro Bowl seasons, every season their bonus adds interest upon the bonus they received the previous.

Figuring out a new idea could be tossed around for days, months, and years, but until the ugliest of the situations occurs no one is going to actually sit down.

Seattle must be ready to submit to the Arizona Cardinals, and also let the 49ers creep back up in the standings. Their poor off-season non-movement with Shaun Alexander has to be ranked as the worst team management planning in a long time. Either they have a great running back in mind to sign next season, or they are ready to sink deep into the Pacific Ocean.

6,000 rushing yards and 62 touchdowns over the last five years…go to…Shaun Alexander. The Seahawks running back has put up phenomenal stunning numbers and always gives it his all on the field. His patience may be his best attribute, as he will always take what the defense and his offensive line gives him. His offensive line has been one of the best in the league, and we all know defenses will breakdown eventually by over pursuing, poor tackling, or not taking the right angle on a tackle. As any Alexander game will show, he will usually bust a big run or two, and average out the rest of the game with time-consuming move the chain yards.

He is the perfect back to keep shackled for a championship run, but the Seahawks do not vision that. They do not want to pay for a big lucrative deal of a top five running back. Which is exactly what Alexander will be offered as the hottest free agent next season. That is the obvious reason because skepticism in Alexander’s ability was thrown out many years ago.

Alexander also does not get along with head coach Mike Holmgren, and maybe he is pushing towards the Seahawks letting him go. Holmgren has already been under fire the past few seasons, but the Seahawks continue to hang around as a .500 franchise. Still, it is obvious that the two need to mend their relationship or move past their differences. A team can only be a true team if the player is committed to believing in their coach. When the starting running back is unsure, than that is when a team that should be a serious contender turns into a .500 team.

This is a situation that could have been resolved a long time ago. It stinks for Alexander that he has to continue to play for a team where he is unwanted. It will be truly business this year but maybe it can become pleasure, if the team exceeds expectations. We all know that winning can change a player or coach’s attitude quickly.

Already any team in serious need of a running back does not need to look ahead to the 2006 NFL Draft. Alexander is the workhorse that any average team looking to jump a few spots up needs. A team like the Jacksonville Jaguars could be the perfect fit, seeming that Fred Taylor is as banged up as people are saying.

Possibilities are always 100 percent, but a determined future is not. Right now Alexander needs to be mentally ready for this season, and worry about his possibilities in the off-season. If he stumbles out the gate with poor outings or gets hurt, his future and salary will suffer. Alexander has never worried anyone with his play, so the consensus view would be another fantastic year.

The Underrated Position:
By Jason Muir

The offensive line position has been underrated for years. Players that get stuck with a horrible offensive line are left to fend for themselves.

The offensive line is there to make the entire offense mesh together. They give the quarterback enough time to throw the ball down field and the wide receivers enough time to run correct and precise routes. Last but not least they give that so called great running back the holes to get those hard earned yards.

Athletes that were lucky to get drafted to a great offensive line have had a long successful football career. Just to name a few, such players like Joe Montana, Troy Aikman, and Jim Kelly ring a bell. The problem with these guys are that all of them were over achievers. In my mind not one of these guys had a great arm but all of them had great offensive lines. That enabled them the opportunity to hold the ball look down field and make a throw, without having a three hundred pound defensive line men putting them on the ground.

It’s starting to click in the general managers head how you can have a mediocre offense and still be successful offensively. The one antidote for this problem is to have a great offensive line. If you were to look at the Kansas City Chiefs offensive players excluding there offensive lines they were all busts at one point. Trent Green had one mediocre year with St Louis out of his ten year tenure with the NFL, and then got his job taken away by a bag boy. Priest Holmes lost his job to Jamal Lewis because he never had one successful year in the league since he was drafted in 93. Their wide receivers in Eddie Kennison and former Chief Jonnie Morton are both solid number two receivers, that benefited tremendously with additional seconds to get open.

So how are these guys able to make huge plays? One reason their “all pro offensive line”. If you have not got a chance to watch this offense run, you’re missing out. These guys are unreal how fast and smooth they operate. They’ll bulldoze their way until the goal line has been reached.

On the other end of this spectrum, great players that got drafted early in the first rounds that turned to be busts, is it credited to the offensive line as well? That’s arguable but it’s not unusual for a top notch player to be a complete bust. Players such as Ricky Williams can overcome such obstacles. In 2003, the Dolphins probably had one of the worst offensive lines in the league, but Ricky was resilient and overcame all the obstacles and earned every yard that season. When Ricky announced his retirement in 04’, the Dolphins had a long year ahead of them. It showed in their record and their offensive production with not one running back reaching over six hundred yards rushing, and as a team not even meeting the agreed upon pylon at a thousand yards rushing. This shows that great players do make the offenses successful, but the great offensive lines make the mediocre offense great.

This year when you draft your players don’t only draft for the player. Draft the players with a great offensive line supporting them. Here are just a few teams to think of.

Kansas City a given. Washington Redskins had a few problems with injuries last year but look for them to rebound, and have a solid running year with Jon Jansen back at tackle. The Seattle Seahawks have the same offensive line coming back from 04’, with the exception of one player. Chris Spencer a first round center and arguably the best center ever taken in the NFL draft. The sleeper of the year are the Cincinnati Bengals, who have been together for some time now. They keep getting better and better every year and look for Carson, Rudi, and Chad to all have great seasons.

The cream of the crop is a given in fantasy drafts, as everyone takes their pickings for the first five to six rounds. Luck has a lot to do with early round success but real success starts when that first questionable pick is made. Sometimes it may look idiotic and out of place, but it gets the rest of the owners thinking aggressively. It may create a whirlwind of early jumping the gun picks, and separate the veteran fantasy owners from the rookies.

Five years ago a person may have bought a regular 32” television for a hefty price. Nowadays the same television can be bought in the mid two hundred to three hundred dollar range. It doesn’t necessarily mean that television is useless and going to burnout quicker. It just means there is a fresher newer product on the market. The HDTV phase is entering the game, but their will be plenty of American consumers that will remain satisfied with their huge regular tube.

In the NFL, rookies, potential young standouts, and players in their free agent contracts are jumped on more and more than ever before in fantasy drafts. The over the night benefits seem to outweigh the risks in owner’s minds. Rather than settle for that veteran athlete that has proven he can play, they’ll go for the younger version for unexpected territory.

Mushin Muhammed, Jimmy Smith, and Isaac Bruce last year proved that sleeping too much on proven veterans is a no-no. The same goes for Jerome Bettis and even Emmitt Smith, as they shocked the world with their resurrected numbers. So who are the athletes this year that will continue to prove that the curtain hasn’t closed?

No other athlete in the NFL over the last decade has been more underrated than Curtis Martin. Is it because he just performs and has a quiet demeanor on his job tasks? Everyone was planning on Martin relinquishing his starting position to Lamont Jordan, and it turned out Jordan couldn’t do it in four years. Martin’s production seems to be increasing at a steadily rate since he past the age of 30. At his pace he’ll be entering elite territory with some of the best overall career running backs. Seemingly statistics like that were comparable to Emmitt Smith during his dominant run. As expected Smith was usually ranked as the number one or two running back in the entire NFL. Yet, Martin has rarely even been mentioned as a top five running back. It’s outrageous and stupefying that his consistency, work ethic, and durability locks are not secured in fantasy owners minds.

At the quarterback position there aren’t any names that’ll make your jaws drop as bargains, but there are some intriguing names. Drew Bledsoe has dangled around being a premier and bust of high hopes quarterback his entire career. Similar to Jake Plummer he manages to do just enough to always have a starting job. His erratic play is what has kept him from obtaining the status everyone thought he would after leading the Patriots to the Super Bowl many years ago. Maybe the reunion between Parcells and Bledsoe, will key in some of that natural instinct ability Bledsoe once possessed. If he can stop holding onto the football and not second guessing himself, he’ll be one of the best bargains of any fantasy football draft.

At wide receiver a lot of great ones have stepped down. Over the last decade Jimmy Smith and Eric Moulds have been synonymous as reliable threats. At first it was their raw skills, but as they grew older and wiser their understanding is what keeps them their. Stats don’t lie, and both haven’t had a down year ever. The best thing about them is they can be drafted as a number two and if you’re extremely lucky a number three in fantasy leagues these days.

Packaging together a great fantasy football team, is like sending a UPS package from New York City to China. Rough spots will surface suddenly. Devotion and smart analytical thinking is the best overall key. Don’t overload too much on what you’ve heard, and keep a little of every ingredient on your team. A veteran here or there, a rookie, proven youngsters, and new faces in new places should all be included on your winning team.