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Video produced by Adam Rose, Michelle Phalen and Emily Nerland
Football season is upon us, which means that Madden season is also right around the corner. To celebrate the latest edition of the game, Madden NFL 10, the good people at EA Sports and XBOX 360 gathered an impressive cast of NFL legends and celebrities in Malibu to play a game of flag football.
While it was just a flag football game, it had all the makings of a big time real game. There was the bumper-to-bumper traffic on the PCH (which had nothing to do with the game - it was a Friday afternoon in the summer), the NFL referees calling the game, the bleachers full of fans and even some physical contact between two future Hall of Famers.
Let's just say, someone still hasn't lost their competitive drive and was taking the game a little more seriously than the rest of the guys who made a living playing tackle football. We can't tell you that was though because the game will be televised on the NFL Network at a later date. (Continue reading story below photo gallery)...
We can tell you, however, that our own Michelle Phalen and Emily Nerland were down on the sidelines chatting it up with the likes of Marshall Faulk, Junior Seau, Jeremy Piven, Brody Jenner, Jason Patric, Brooke Burke and Alison Sweeney. The most popular topic of their conversation was former Trojan great and Hall of Fame running back, Marcus Allen.
While there were several highlights of our time at the EA Sports Madden 10 on XBOX 360 Pigskin Pro-Am, many of which we cannot share with you because the NFL Network would like you to tune in and see them, there were two particular moments that made us forget all about that 90 minute trek to Malibu.
The first occurred immediately upon arrival. After being directed to park in a field outside of Pepperdine, we hopped on a shuttle bus that would take us over to the Malibu Bluffs Park where the game was taking place. Sitting on the bus was none other than Mark-Paul Gosselaar. Growing up, you'd never think you find yourself riding a bus with Zach Morris and then it happens. Gosselaar, who can now be seen on TNT's "Raising the Bar" had his game face on, he was ready to beat Valley the Blue Team, so we didn't bother him as he mentally prepared for the day's game.
Two of Gosselaar's teammates were the legendary duo of Joe Montana and Jerry Rice. Watching these two work together on the field as if they never stopped playing together was absolutely the greatest moment of the entire day. Thursday night at the pre-game party held in Santa Monica, Rice told us, "Joe still got that spiral, that pretty ball just floating in the air. I can't wait to catch one of those passes tomorrow."
Jerry was right. Joe still got it, but so did the guy on the other team playing quarterback. That would be some guy named John Elway. Those two weren't the only ones flashing their arms, celeb participant Patric showed that he could toss the pigskin as well.
Mixed in with all the athletic competition were the usual celebrity sports shenanigans, which should make for a very entertaining game to watch when it airs on the NFL Network.
EA Sports Madden NFL 10 on XBOX 360 hits shelves August 14th.
