Is the Madden Curse Alive and Well?
Superstitions have always thrived in the world of sports. In particular, when an individual is singled out and honored (particularly in team sports), the paranoia reaches another level. Common examples of this include the Sports Illustrated cover curse, the Campbell’s soup curse, and the Heisman trophy curse. In addition to these, we also have the Madden cover curse.
This year, Madden cover curse believers breathed a sigh of relief when it was revealed that EA picked the recently retired Brett Favre to grace the Madden NFL 09 cover. This was the first time that EA made this move, instead of using the hottest, up and coming NFL player.
Certainly a retired, future NFL hall of fame player would help give the curse a one year rest?
ORLY???
As Brett Favre and the Packers try to sort out if and where he will play this season, lets run through some of the previous Madden covers and their accompanied misfortunes…
Madden NFL 2001 – Eddie George (Tennessee Titans)
- In the previous season, Eddie led the Titans to the Superbowl against the Rams. Unfortunately, during the Madden cover year, George bobbled a pass during the divisional playoffs which led to an interception that was returned for a touchdown. The Tennessee Titan’s went on to lose that game and haven’t been back to the Superbowl since.
Daunte Culpepper (Minnesota Vikings)
- Daunte suffered a knee injury and was out for the final 5 games of the season. Minnesota finished the season with a record of 5 wins and 11 losses.
Marshall Faulk (St. Louis Rams)
- Marshall Faulk played most of the season with a sprained ankle, while his team missed the playoffs with a record of 7 wins and 9 losses.
Michael Vick (Atlanta Falcons)
- Perhaps the cruelest victim of the Madden curse, Mike Vick broke his leg during the pre-season as the dirty birds fell to a record of 5-11. Mike Vick is currently in prison for his involvement in a dog fighting ring.
Ray Lewis (Baltimore Ravens)
- Ray Lewis was injured in the final game of the season as the Ravens finished the season at 9-7 and failed to make the playoffs.
Donavan McNabb (Philadelphia Eagles)
- Donavan missed the final 7 games of the season with a hernia as the Eagles finished the season with a disappointing 6-10 record.
Shawn Alexander (Seattle Seahawks)
- Shawn Alexander missed six games with a broken foot. Seattle made the playoffs, but came up short against the Chicago Bears.
Vince Young (Tennessee Titans)
- This one is stretching it a bit… Vince Young suffered a quadricep strain against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and had to miss one game. This was the first time ever (including high school) that Vince had missed a football game due to injury.
Brett Favre (Team ???)