And a lot of people might say it's extremely appropriate!

I was watching the idiot box the other night, catching some of my stories--Don't worry, I don't watch soap operas; I just call all of my shows stories--when a familiar commercial came on. And by "familiar," I mean, "I saw this commercial exactly one year ago, advertising something else."

"You get the new Madden?" a man says slyly as he calls up his buddy and slips Madden into his Xbox 360. His buddy says no and casually deflects with an offhanded remark about a midnight release at Wal-Mart. They exchange suspicious comments for a few minutes before several copies of Madden 10 fly at my face.

Wait a minute, what? 10? Didn't they use this exact commercial for 09 a year ago? Oh yes.

I don't mean to be snooty as I ramble about this, but really. This kind of goes along with the criticism of the franchise, where people who dislike or don't play Madden complain that nothing really changes from game to game. (Though I would argue with them on that point, noting several franchises that have evolved even less over the years, albeit over fewer games.)

And I'm not even saying this annoys me. I know a lot of companies recycle old ads, because it's more cost effective to revise an ad and put it out again than to make a whole new one. It's just sort of a funny little bit I thought I'd ramble on. Yeah, I know, I don't have many interesting things to say today. Maybe I'll spew a top 5 sometime or something.

...Maybe you guys should suggest something for a top 5. I might even listen, if that motivates you.