August is all about football.

Two-a-day practices in high school, college and the pros. Scrimmages and preseason games.

But the main football draw in August remains the stocking of the John Madden football video game on store shelves.

The polygonal pigskin franchise has established itself as the king of all sports video games.

Recently, a new phenomenon has begun — Rating Rants.

NFL players see every rating number as a pat on the back — or a slap in the face.

Players have threatened to boycott the game because they felt slighted by their ratings.

Want to know the value of a player these days, look no further than the sea of rating numbers assigned to each player.

It's always fascinating to scour the player ratings the first time you pop the game into the tray..

As the technology and game has evolved, so have the rating categories. There are more than 19 ratings this season on a scale from 1-to-99.

Here's a look at some of the more interesting ratings in Madden 2011:

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Old Spice Swagger rating: In a clear case of advertising run amok, one of the player ratings in Madden is sponsored by Old Spice.I have no clue what impact the swagger rating has on my virtual players, but not so surprisingly Chad Ochocinco has the highest mark at 99.Ben Roethlisberger earned a swagger rating of 93, which may be one of the reasons why he is suspended for six games at the start of the season.The worst swagger rating? That belongs to Cardinals' punter Ben Graham. I guess when you are a punter, you don't have much swagger.•

The 99 Club: Six players got a 99 overall rating — the rarest of all cyber football accomplishments.They are: Chris Johnson, Patrick Willis, Darrell Revis, Jared Allen, Drew Brees and Peyton Manning.•

Lowest spin move rating: Ravens rookie defensive tackle Terrence Cody (a whopping 5).The Earth apparently does a 360-degree spin on its axis faster than the 6-foot-4, 360-pound Cody.•

Lowest strength rating: Patriots' kicker Stephen Gostkowski (15). If he lifts some weights this offseason, that rating could soar to 17.•

Lowest QB throwing accuracy: In a major upset, it is not JaMarcus Russell (64), but Patrick Ramsey (63).•

Lowest rated player: Michael Ray Garvin (40). I'm still not sure who Garvin is, and judging by his rating, few Madden players ever will, either.Mike Kilroy is a staff writer for the Butler Eagle.