SFist is not the biggest football fan in the world, but we definitely love video games. And while many have tried, nobody is taking John Madden Football's spot in the starting lineup. With their release of Madden 2005, Redwood City based Electronic Arts celebrates fifteen years of making the best-selling video game of all time. That's right - last year's version grossed as much sales as the movie Shrek (which was made nearby at Palo Alto's Pacific Data Images), and this year it promises to be even bigger. The Chron gave it the top rating - jumping, clapping dude. SFist is looking forward to putting Marcus Tuiasosopo in at quaterback and running the option behind Robert Gallery with the Raiders.

We're not only proud of EA's success, but John Madden's as well. A graduate of Jefferson High School in Daly City, John Madden is a Bay Area legend, having coached the Oakland Raiders to a Super Bowl in the seventies, written five best-selling books and won thirteen Emmys as a broadcaster. Famous for his phobia of flying, he tours the country in the MaddenCruiser, a luxurious behemoth of the highways. So while you won't see him boarding a plane at SFO's Gate 85, you will see his bronze plaque, as he is an inductee of the Bay Area Sports Hall of Fame.