Ray Mickens waits in his Long Island condominium -- with great anticipation -- for New York Jets teammate Chad Pennington.

"This," the cornerback says, smiling, "should be fun. Chad is not exactly an expert."

	Seeing is believing you're a professional athlete when playing the next generation of sports video games.

Mickens and Pennington have agreed to conduct a clinical test for ESPN, which is producing an "Outside the Lines" program featuring athletes and sports video games. Mickens is the 1999 Madden Bowl champion, which means he's way better at Sony's PlayStation2 than he is at defending passes. Pennington? He's an old-school Rhodes Scholar finalist who says he has no use for video games.

"My hobbies are fishing, golfing and just being outside," says Pennington, the quarterback who backs up Vinny Testaverde. "I had a Dreamcast for a couple of days, until I left the machine on for a couple of days and burned it out. I just never got into it."

Nevertheless, it is Pennington who brings a borrowed rig to Mickens' condo. Mickens has a big system at his home in Texas, and even one in his car, but nothing in New York.

"It got to where there was no more competition," Mickens says. "I've just gotten away from it."

Yeah, right. Pennington's first pass from scrimmage as Aaron Brooks of the New Orleans Saints is intercepted by Mickens, playing as the St. Louis Rams.

"That's the way to start it," Pennington says glumly. "Gets the old quarterback rating up, you know."

	Outside The Lines Primetime
	ESPN's "Outside The Lines Primetime" examines the growing, $20 billion business of video games in "Simulating Sports: The Video Game Craze" at 7:30 p.m. ET today.

Kurt Warner and Ricky Proehl quickly make it 7-0. Pennington's second pass also is picked off.

"Another one," Mickens screeches. "He threw it into a team meeting!"

Three plays later, it is 14-0.

"First two plays, two picks," Pennington says. "I've got to calm down my quarterback a little bit."

And so it goes, up and mostly down the field as Mickens schools Pennington. The passion, frankly, approaches a frightening level. Indeed, it is a level of commitment that was played out in dozens of camera shoots for the show that airs May 16. The truth is, professional athletes love sports video games.

Thirteen of 15 Detroit Pistons play video games regularly, and 10 of 15 Philadelphia 76ers describe themselves as avid gamers. The Montreal Expos travel with their own big unit and many players bring their own rigs on the road. Athletes are naturally competitive and have plenty of downtime to hone their skills. Unlike the previous generation of athletes who played Pong and Atari, this current generation grew up playing sports video games. Like the Internet, it's an integral part of their lives.

Too integral, some would argue.

	“	Before you know it, your habits become you, instead of the other way around. All of a sudden, you're staying up until 12, 1 in the morning playing video games. It's pretty tough to regroup and try and participate in football practice after that. ”
		— Jets head coach Herman Edwards

Jets head coach Herman Edwards is a member of Pennington's anti-video camp. His son Marcus, now a freshman wide receiver at the University of South Florida, was "a video junkie" before Edwards got him straightened out.

"It's like anything else," Edwards said. "Before you know it, your habits become you, instead of the other way around. All of a sudden, you're staying up until 12, 1 in the morning playing video games. It's pretty tough to regroup and try and participate in football practice after that."

On the other hand, Edwards said, there is an upside.

"When you go on the road during the season you don't worry about bed checks anymore because most guys are up in their rooms playing video games."

Players say that it isn't unusual to play for three or four hours straight. Or even more.

"I can actually say 10 hours is not anything over the ordinary," Golden State Warriors forward Antawn Jamison said. "Sometimes my girlfriend will be like, 'What are you doing? Come spend some time with me,' and you just want to say, 'I'm relaxing, baby. Just leave me alone.' "

The Cleveland Browns' Tim Couch and Aaron Shea host a video football tournament each year at Couch's home in suburban Cleveland. This year, five Browns and two 49ers players attended. One contestant, Terry Jackson, who won the Madden Bowl a few years ago in Atlanta, flew in from Florida.

"This almost flunked me out of (Michigan)," explained Shea, a third-year tight end. "We used to play 'Bill Walsh '95' and I was Colorado; Tai (Streets) was Florida; Tom Brady, I think, was Florida State. We had our battles. We would stay up until like 4, 5 in the morning because we were all in the dorms."

To this day, Shea and Couch remain regular players.

"We usually wake up about 10, 10:30 and I'll be over here by 11," Shea said. "We usually sneak one in -- we all say 'sneak one in,' 'get one in,' -- before lunch, then come back and play 'til dinner time. Yeah, it's addicting.

"It's a good addiction, though. Because I don't know what I'd do if I didn't have video games. I mean, I'd probably be in trouble."

Athletes go to great lengths to play video games. Some even have systems installed in their cars. Chris Mills, another Warriors forward, has a state-of-the-art setup in his silver Cadillac Escalade. There are five monitors -- one where the rear-view mirror should be, and four in the headrests that face the back seats. Mills can work PlayStation2 or Dreamcast, simultaneously if he wants. He said he doesn't play while driving, but the games come in handy when he's driving friends over long distances.

Mills is part owner of 310 Motoring in Los Angeles, where the stars go to get their cars customized. Marc Laidler, CEO of 310, says 80 percent of the more than 100 athletes who have had their cars modified have video game systems installed.

"It's not an option," Laidler said. "It's mandatory."

The roster includes most of the Lakers and Clippers, as well as some of the biggest names in Hollywood.

	Sure, it's easy to keep your eyes on the ball when the defensive back bearing down on you is only an animated player.

"When I'm somewhere and I'm just sitting in my ride, just chilling, I play PlayStation," Los Angeles Clippers forward Darius Miles explained. "If I'm waiting for my mom to come out of the house and she's taking all day, I won't be bugging and calling her, I can play PlayStation."

Said Clippers teammate Elton Brand: "I'm not the best on my team, but I'm slowly rising. I was very, very bad in the beginning. I'm proud to say right now I'm top three in Madden. It's something to do.

"In the cars, it's definitely for floss, to show off. Guys like their cars to be comfortable, so the ultimate comfort is sitting back, playing the video games and enjoying it."

Older athletes might argue over just what "the ultimate comfort" is, but some of them play games, too. Diamondbacks pitcher Curt Schilling said he enjoys interactive games on his personal computer. He has attained the status of Level 51 monk in "EverQuest."

"You can kind of immerse yourself in it," Schilling aid. "It's got its own little society. There's a hierarchy.

"For me, it's kind of a release. You get involved in a game, you stop thinking about giving up seven runs in five innings for a few hours."

Back on Long Island, in the battle of Mickens vs. Pennington, the game is getting out of hand. It's 21-0, Rams over the Saints, and the producer says she's seen enough. Mickens reluctantly puts down his controller.

"Listen, Ray-Ray," Pennington says after the lights, camera and action have all been turned off, "what do you say we go one more quarter?"

Greg Garber is a senior writer for ESPN.com