So....
I got home from the stoh about 5pm last night. Greeted the family - when I pulled upto the house, the front door was wide-open.
"odd" I thought.
I step in, and reach to close the door.
"BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO" Shouts my son, who was hiding behind the door.
And it was a BOOOOOO which went uncomfortably LONG. He must have boo'd his poor heart out - AT the top of his lungs. I started laughing...He started laughing...and my daughter (who was hiding with him) started laughing.

Twas cute.
Anywho, I greet the wifey, and go to the kitchen for a bowl of chilli-mac (Alton Brown's Recipe! Yum!).
Upstairs while chatting on the phone w/ -Cp, I wasnt watching where I was going.
CRACK!!
I kicked the baseboard of the bed in the Xbox room, breaking my 2nd to last toe on my left foot.
Duane wisely let me get off the phone as I attempted to KEEP from shouting every profanity in the book.
Mary brought up an ice pack, and I settled in for the game.
I started w/ a practice (Praaa-tiss...wee talkin' 'bout praaatiss...)game of teh Hawks vs. 49'ers.
Previously, I'd been playing NFL 2k5 from ESPN. One aspect I'd missed was the 'sprint' button. On Madden it's 'push A and hold', whereas on ESPN it's ''tap that sommbitch'. GENERALLY i'd rather 'tap dat' than just 'hold dat', but talking about video games the reverse is true. At half time I quit the game and started "SuperStar - Road to the Hall of Fame" mode.
I created Ethan Pemberton, a 6'3", 260lbs Fullback. During the tryouts I got him to a 90-rated speed, and 89-rated break tackle.
At the draft I was taken as the 1st pick in the 3rd round by who?
HEWWW-STON TEXXXXXINS!!!!
I should have named my player 5StringJeff.
Blocking was pretty hard, actually - at least until I got sorta used to it. Still, was not as fun as running so I manipulated the depth chart to be the #1 HB.
My first pre-season games I had 205 yards and 2 TDs.
Save.
Franchise Mode.
HOLY LORD!!! The seahawks ratings are....MOSTLY CORRECT!! One problem I have: they rated the 'hawk's starting right tackle (sean locklear) as a
67 or was that 69? either way, MUCH too low. Yes, THAT Sean Locklear - who started most every game last year, comprising perhaps the most dominate line in recent history.

I might go back and bump that up to a solid 80 eventually.
I'm still getting used to the buttons - I don't like having to use the white and black buttons for receivers - they just are a bit awkward.
All told, I'd say the game is a solid 9 out of 10. I was a bit put off by hearing the SAME Madden one-liners as in Madden 06 - New soundbites, please!
