Tuesday marked the beginning of what many would consider a secular holiday. While there were no trees, candles, or even aluminum poles and feats of strengths, Tuesday marks the beginning of many long, wasted nights filled with cans of downed cokes, missed meals and social engagements. It's an event that has grown so large that economists now chart its impact, which has grown into the billions.

Let's be honest here, you're probably going to buy Madden 11 if you're a football fan -- assuming you haven't already purchased it. I know I'm going to buy Madden 11. It's a cultural moment. A time in which you know anyone and everyone who cares the smallest iota about sports video games will be playing the same game. All other sports games pale in comparison to the type of influence the little football-game-that-could has exerted over the years.

But let put a little disclaimer here before continuing. This article is not meant to piss on your parade. There are no doubt people out there who have been chomping at the bit to get their hands on the newest edition of Madden. A friend of mine told me last week over beers that he can't sleep in the days leading up to the release. Good for him. Good for you, dedicated Madden enthusiast. Enjoy it. Slave over it.

However, this article is for the skeptics out there. Those of us who greeted Tuesday with a certain type of existential dread. We know that we're a short drive away from getting our fix of video game football. We're slugging through the dog days of baseball summer and could not be more ready for the NFL to commence operations. But we also know what to expect when we turn on our system of choice with Madden in the tray.

I am completely and fully aware that I'm probably going to be disappointed. Sure, there will be a certain newness to it -- a quality that will distinguish it, if ever so slightly from Madden 10 -- but I know better than to expect some sort of evolutionary leap forward that will forever change the way I play games. I will play a slightly tweaked game marked with the same types of problems I've grown accustomed to over the years.

I will blaze through AI-controlled defenses using a mildly talented tight end. The running game will either be too hard or too easy, with no discernible middle ground out of the box. I will play the same game over and over and over again until I put it away and get back to work on my NCAA 11 dynasty.

What's so disappointing to me, and so many others, is that we get the distinct feeling that the largeness of the franchise is holding it back. After all, we've experienced alternatives. At one point, we were graced with NFL 2K5, an ambitious and incredible game that hit all the right notes. That particular franchise, faced with the daunting task of downing the oversized dragon that is Madden, tinkered with itself and took chances. The results were nothing short of staggering.

Still, though, this is not about Madden versus NFL 2K. This is about the fact that we now live in a world with only one NFL-licensed effort -- for all of the perks of Backbreaker this is technically still a one-pony show for NFL fans -- and the water in this pond has gone stagnant. It is not worthwhile, after all, for EA or its developers to swing for the fences on a consistent basis. You're going to buy Madden 11, I'm going to buy Madden 11, and it doesn't pay to have a revolution if you're the only one who's going to lose your job.

Jared Sexton serves as a professor of English for Ball State University in Muncie, Indiana. In addition to nitpicking video games, he writes short stories and poems that appear in journals and magazines across the country.