With the news that Vince Young is going to be the next cover athlete for this year's edition of Madden (L.T. probably got asked first and promptly said "Hell No!"), I predict that the Tennessee Titans will be getting a Top 5 Draft Pick after Vince Young is hurt in the pre-season and is out for the year, followed by injuries to LenDale White (runover by Saints Mascot), Pacman Jones (shot by stripper) and others.
The Madden Curse is probably one of the most horrid curses in sports. Look at the list of victims to be claimed by the afformentioned EA Product:
Madden 1999 - Garrison Hearst. The first player to ever be featured on a Madden cover, Hearst would break his ankle on the first play of the game versus the Atlanta Falcons. He disapperared from the league until 2001.
Madden 2000 - Barry Sanders and Dorsey Levens. Sanders shared the cover with Madden, but before trainign camp began, he retired. Levens was featured on another cover, and only rushed for 224 yards and was ultimately cut by the Packers in 2001.
Madden 2001 - Eddie George. George rushed for career lows of 939 yards and 5 touchdowns, and wasn't the same player, though he did rush for over 1,000 yards and scored 14 touchdowns in 2002.
Madden 2002 - Daunte Culpepper. Culpepper appeared on the Madden 2002 cover, and the Vikings struggled to a 6-10 reccord.
Madden 2003 - Marshall Faulk. Faulk would suffer an ankle injury, missing five games and never again rushed for 1,000 yards for the rest of his career.
Madden 2004 - Michael Vick. Shortly after Madden 04 was released, Vick suffered a severely injury during a pre-season game against the Ravens, fracturing his fibula, and only was able to play in the last 5 games of the season.
Madden 2005 - Ray Lewis. Ray Lewis wold become the first defensive player ever to appear on the cover, possibly thanks to EA hoping that a defensive player would be able to beat the curse. Unfortuantely, Lewis would break his wrist, missing the last game of the regular season, but would also fail to get a single interception and the Ravens failed to make the palyoffs.
Madden 2006 - Donovan McNabb. Where to start? Aside from T.O., McNabb suffered a sports hernia in the first game of the seasonm tried to play through, injured his groin against the Cowboys, and called it a season shortly afterward.
Madden 2007 - Shaun Alexander. The Reigning MVP suffered a fracture in his left foot which he received during the first game of the season against the Lionsm missed 6 games, and failed to rush for over 100 yeards, plus saw his record of most touchdowns per year get broken by LaDainian Tomlinson.
Damn, never even knew about this, crazy! 8 years of cover curse, that sucks and I wonder if Vince can break it? If anyone can break it, Vince can though....Go Titans!
I'm a long time Texas Rangers fan who has come to love baseball as a whole. I recently began this blog as a way for me to showcase my opinions, provide some analysis, and hopefully entertain those who happen to stumble upon my little soapbox online. I'll toss in an NFL, College, or NBA nugget every now and then. Enjoy the posts everyone, and yes, getting a little love in a Deadspin post was probably the highlight of the year, blogwise.
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