I really hate when people blame their mis-haps on unreal things. Let's take curses for example.

1. "The Curse of the Bambino:" an unreal-superstition that citizens known as "Red Sox Nation" blamed for their favorite team's constant chokes.
2. "The Curse of the Billy Goat:" Read number one.
3. "The Curse of the fill in childhood story here:"The whole "Bloody Mary" and "Donkey Lady" stories are enternaining, but c'mon, there's a reason little kids (yes, younger than me) are the only people who tell the stories.

And then we finally have the most absurd curse of all, the "Madden Curse." The curse where if you happen to be on the Madden cover for the upcoming football season, you are going to get hurt. I have news for all you curse believers: it's football. Everyone is going to miss a week or two at least once every two seasons or so. And, I know, most of the "Madden Curse" injuries have been pretty major, but, again, it's football. It's going to happen whether you are on the curse or not.

Michael Vick is a quarterback, not to mention a mobile quarterback. He is going to get pounded game in and game out, and when you line up against the Ravens' defense, you know involuntarily that you are going to have to ice after the game if you are not carted off. You really can't say you are surprised that Vick got injured: runs everywhere, coming off a breakout season so everyone will be gunning for him, and he's playing against the Ravens defense.

Ray Lewis is a little tougher to analyze. He's a linebacker, so, for the most part, he does the tackling. But the thing with Ray is is that he is a shoulder-first, no-regard-for-the-personal-body type of tackler, so that is bound to happen, too.

Donavan McNabb is the one exception "coincidence." You can't really analyze his injury, it just sort of happened.

Shaun Alexander, finally, is the guy where I would've been more impressed if he wouldn't have gotten hurt last year. He is a runningback who is fast, don't get me wrong, but his way of running is breaking tackles, and using the stiff-arm. He is going to take a beating every game just for being a runningback, then adding the whole "You can't tackle me because I'll hit you harder" image is just frightening.

So as you can see, folks, the Madden Curse is just an refuge for fans whose season-or even just a few games-was ruined. But why stop at analyzing the past injuries? Why not this year's cover boy, Vince Young?

Vince, like Vick, is a mobile quarterback. Under Jeff Fisher, however, he is learning to become a semi-pocket, semi-looking to run type quarterback. Another thing he has on Vick is his size and, yes, I am saying it, his ability to make decisions. Last year, against the Texans, he ran the ball in himself for the game-winning touchdown. If you watch the tape, he dropped back and looked to pass first, and then scrambled when he saw holes and that no one was open. At the national championship game against USC he ran it in. Why drop back and pass when there is a gaping hole in the defense? Both of these game-winners came off of great decisions and he was virtually un-touched by the opposing teams' defense on both plays.

But he is still a mobile quarterback.

You can count on him getting injured at some point during the season, but don't count on it being a long sit-out.

There you have it, people, the diagnosis of a curse based on a video game. I have no life.