I just got a call from P.J. contributor The Green Blazer, who was at Wal-Mart scooping Madden 08. When he got home he gave me another ring asking for help picking a team for franchise mode since he’s going to post on that topic later, and, well, also because he’s a Madden franchise junkie. Our first thought was that he should take on one of the worst teams in the league — the Buffalo Bills, Cleveland Browns or Houston Texans. Then we remembered that Pacman Jones is still a member of the Tennessee Titans, and that the Titans are likely going to blow this year. Playing with Vince Young was also appealing to the Blazer since he prefers playing with mobile quarterbacks, and since V.Y. is on the cover.

He then went and checked out the Titans’ roster, and guess what — no Pacman! Then he went and checked the free agent cornerbacks. Again, no Pacman. After that he went and made sure that Chris Henry, Michael Vick and Tank Johnson were all still on the game, which they all three were.

What’s up with the double standard, EA Sports? I understand that Pacman can’t play this season (NFL commissioner Roger Goodell will not change his mind after 10 games… NBA head honcho David Stern acted the same way about Ron Artest… Goodell is just trying to keep Gene Upshaw and Pac’s lawyers off his ass), but can’t gamers at least use him in years 2008 and beyond while playing franchise mode? After all, he is one of the best corners and return specialists in the NFL.

What’s even more screwed up is the message that this sends out: Strip club shootouts are bad, dogfighting is OK. Why is Tank Johnson a free agent, too? His career could be over, because he’s not nearly as talented as Pac. I realize that some of this could be because Paman was suspended so early, but for some reason I think this is less of an EA issue and more of a decision mandated by Goodell and his team of P.R. Nazis.

Personally, I think that Pacman should be automatically placed on the Titans injured reserve on this installment of Madden, unusable for the first season. After that I think gamers should be able to decide if they want to keep him or not when playing with the Titans in franchise mode. The real-life Titans are going to be facing that same decision before next season, why should gamers be deprived of it? Having a suspend-a-player option would be even better. That way gamers could personally decide how to punish The Namesake and the rest these clowns.

I’m just wondering what happened to that EA slogan, “If it’s in the game, it’s in the game.” Guess they forgot about that one.

My suggestion to all you Maddenites out there who want to protest this hypocritical maneuver — create Pacman Jones yourself. In fact, I’d like anyone who creates him and wants to share his numbers to post them as a comment to this post. Let’s create an accurate Pacman and stick it to the man, everybody!