The NFL schedule says that the regular season doesn’t kickoff until Sept. 8 when the Oakland Raiders travel to the New England Patriots, but for many fans the 2005-’06 season got in full swing Tuesday.

How is this possible?

Tuesday marked the official release of &uot;Madden NFL ’06.&uot;

For most serious gamers whether it is Playstation, Xbox or another system, if they are a sports fan &045; and more specifically a fan of the NFL &045; few things rival the good feelings they felt on Tuesday.

Every year there are new additions to the game that take it just one more step closer to reality.

And for all of us who are armchair quarterbacks this is our dream come true.

We get to run our favorite team, decide which players need to start and which need to sit, make trades, sign players within the salary cap and make a run at the granddaddy of professional football &045; the Super Bowl.

While it may not be an official holiday there where probably more than a few people who took the day off work just to get their season set up, and get a firsthand look at the new features added to the ’06 game.

This will be the first year that I will not run out and purchase the new Madden as I have sworn off (at least at the moment) video games, but I look back fondly on my days as a Saga Genesis player running wild for hundreds of yards with Emmitt Smith or launching the deep ball with Dan Marino.

You may not get out there on the field, but believe me you feel just as tired after pulling an all-nighter trying to secure your team’s first-round bye heading into the playoffs.

Madden’s game &045; named after former Raiders head coach and current television personality John Madden &045; has been the Rolls Royce of the football gaming world for several years, and it is not going to slow down anytime soon.

After ESPN made a run into the market with a cheaper NFL game option last year, Electronic Arts, which is responsible for the Madden game, made a move in the offseason obtaining exclusive rights for pro football thus eliminating serious competition.

Madden is a great football game, but I am not sure that anything will ever top the original Tecmo Bowl on the Nintendo Entertainment System.

You just cannot beat the chance to take a snap on the 1-yard line, run backwards to your own 10 and then fire a strike to a waiting Jerry Rice in the back of the end zone.

Ah, those were the days.

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I was never a great math student in school, but I know that I would really fail at it in the NFL.

This was made crystal clear to me the other day when looking at Dante Culpepper’s contract.

What you see: 10 years, $102 million.

What it really boils down to: 2 years, $15.1 million.

Guaranteed money is everything in the NFL because of the way contracts are set up in the league and the possibility of injury or a short career for another reason.

However, if players like Terrell Owens are going to get upset about money, when they get it and how much they get then sign a contract that means something.

If you sign a big-dollar deal knowing it is really for much less because the team has no intention of honoring it, then don’t sign it.

It is a wicked way to work but it is only being done because it allows teams to finagle their way around the salary cap, and it allows players the chance to get big money up front while waiting for the rest at the back end of the deal.

If that kind of situation is forcing all of these holdouts or threats of holdouts maybe the NFL should start guaranteeing all contracts for their entire length to avoid this situation.

Agents like getting big money up front and writing language into contracts to get as much guaranteed money as possible because they get paid when their client does, but if that is all player are after how can they complain when they get into a deal a year or two and your salary is little more than league minimum?

Players asked for it by demanding so much money up front.

If a player would sacrifice a big payday up front he could get bigger yearly salaries through a guaranteed contract.

Guaranteed contracts may make sense to those involved in the negotiating process, but the math that is being used now has me convinced that 2 plus 2 equals 5.

(Jeff Budlong, sports editor)