Christmas in August

Today marks Christmas in August for millions of people across the country as the much anticipated release of Madden NFL Football 2012 hits retail stores. I am one of those fans who have been eagerly awaiting the delayed release (most years Madden goes on sale the Tuesday after Hall of Fame Weekend). The new Madden has become an annual rite of passage to Kickoff Weekend.

This year I’m more excited than ever because, in honor of "Madden 2003" cover athlete and Class of 2011 Enshrinee Marshall Faulk, EA Sports is offering a limited run of "Madden NFL 12 Hall of Fame Edition" games. There are only 125,000 copies of the "HOF Edition" in stores, and the run will be limited to the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360, retailing for $89.99.

Each copy of the Hall of Fame Edition includes one of four exclusive Marshall Faulk trading cards, each hand-signed. One solid, 18k gold autographed card has been randomly inserted into one Xbox 360 and one PlayStation 3 copy of the "Hall of Fame Edition." The exclusiveness of these two 18k gold cards is awesome. The lucky recipients will have one of the most valuable cards in Panini history. Not to mention one of the coolest Madden covers ever.

Enough writing for now. I can’t wait any longer so I’m taking an early lunch and heading to the nearest store to get my copy.

Happy Madden Day to all.