Madden videogame big part of Super Bowl week

TAMPA, Florida -- EA Sports' Madden NFL 09 has been a mainstay in Tampa throughout Super Bowl week. Madden Bowl XV, one of the biggest parties of the week, took place in Ybor City at The Honey Pot on Thursday night.

The annual videogame tournament pitted eight NFL pros, including a representative from the Pittsburgh Steelers and the Arizona Cardinals, in a single-elimination battle on Xbox 360 for the Madden Bowl trophy. Local Buccaneer wide receiver Antonio Bryant was the last man standing at the packed event. He took out New York Giant Justin Tuck in a spirited 28-7 match-up using the Dallas Cowboys instead of his own Buccaneers. For the record, the Cowboys are the best team in Madden NFL 09.

The party was packed with NFL pros who braved the horrible weather -- it rained all day -- to play Madden with teammates and friends. EA Sports had Xbox 360 kiosks set up throughout the three-story bar. While the main action took place downstairs on stage, spectators took part in their own games upstairs. Evander Holyfield was in the crowd, along with NFL players like Donovan McNabb, Santana Moss and Steven Jackson, and Sports Illustrated swimsuit models Brooklyn Decker, Jarah Mariano and Jessica Gomes.

Baltimore Ravens' star Ray Lewis was on hand at the Madden Bowl to take on gamers at home through the Xbox Live Game with Fame. He spent an hour playing against gamers on Xbox 360. And having interviewed Lewis many times, he takes his Madden very seriously and is a great gamer.

Although this party was closed to most fans, the NFL Experience just outside Raymond James Stadium offered Madden NFL 09 action. EA Sports had kiosks with the game available for attendees. They also held the first-ever Madden NFL 09 Mini-Tournament which gave two tickets to Super Bowl XLIII away to the champion.

Those fans who didn't make the trek to Tampa this year -- and judging by the hotel vacancies during this recession there were a lot of them -- could watch "Madden Nation." ESPN2 is running the one-hour Madden special all week after debuting it Super Bowl Sunday. The show chronicles the Madden Challenge Finals that took place last month in Turks and Caicos at Beaches Resort in Providenciales. The winner of that Challenge took home $50,000 in cash and prizes -- all for playing Madden.

With the NFL season over, Madden NFL 09 offers football fans the chance to experience the sport throughout the long offseason. It even lets fans take their team to a virtual Super Bowl. And for some, that's better than nothing.