Here we go again. If you are a football fan then you would be insane if you did not know who John Madden is. And if you know who John Madden is then you know that he is the franchise name of one of the best selling video games of all time. EA SPORTS MADDEN NFL.
When the game was first released in the 1990′s John Madden himself was the only person to appear on the cover. But in a changing market with the Playstation 2 and the Xbox about to be released EA Sports changed their marketing. Instead of putting only John Madden on the cover of the video game they put one of the best NFL running backs on it; Eddie George of the Tennessee Titans. And the curse was born
“Im not supersticious. But i know how you guys like say it’s bad luck to get on the cover and everything,” Eddie George told ESPN in an interview.
If you look at George’s regular season stats that season then you could make the argument that the curse does not exist. But fast forward to January 2001 when the Titans played the Baltimore Ravens in the divisional round of the playoffs and see what happened. A routine NFL catch went right through Goerge’s hands and into Baltimore’s Ray Lewis’ hands for an interception and a touchdown. It was the deciding play in the first home playoff loss in Tennessee Titans history. Next up for the curse to take down. Daunte Culpepper. Quarterback of the Minnesota Vikings.
“I’m not one to beleive in Jinx’s and stuff like that. You know if stuff happens it happens,” Culpepper said.
So guess what happened. Culpepper threw for almost 4,000 yards and 33 touchdowns the previous season. But as the cover boy for Madden he threw only 14 touchdowns to 13 interceptions and missed the final four games of the season due to an injury.
“I dont think that there is a John Madden curse,” Marshall Faulk said. He was next as he was on the cover of Madden 2003. Faulk had 2,000 yards in four consecutive seasons. But then the 2002 year came around and the Rams started out 0-5 and Faulk who was hurt all season only got ten starts.
Michael Vick was next up for Madden NFL 2004. He broke his leg that year and missed eleven games. Oh and he also went to prison a few years later.
Madden 2005 decided to put a Defensive player on the cover with the guy who might have brought the jinx to life against the Titans in January of 2001 when he intercepted the pass that went through Eddie George’s fingers. Ray Lewis. The Baltimore Linebacker was determined that the curse was not to effect him. But that is not the case… again. It was not as dramatic as the others however Lewis had a decrease in performance for the 2004 season and the Ravens missed the playoffs.
Madden NFL 2006 they put Eagles quarterback Donovan McCnabb on the cover. In week 9 he suffered a hernia and the Eagles finnished 6-10 and in last place for the first time since 1999.
So now we go to Madden NFL 2007. Seatle’s Shaun Alexander got the honor and the curse. He suffered a broken foot and missed Six games, and also had the worst stats in his career since his rookie season.
For the 2008 edition Vince Young after a steller Rookie year was put on the cover. Then he threw 17 interceptions to 9 touchdowns. And they lost to the Chargers in the first round.
For Madden NFL 2009 they thought they could have beaten the curse. There was no way for the curse to strike! Brett Favre had retired so nothing could go wrong. Im sure they didn’t expect him to come out of retirement and get traded to the New York Jets. The Jets started 8-3 but finnished 9-7 and missed out on the playoffs. And the Packers also had a bad season as Favre is wearing a Packers uniform on the Cover.
Well now they decided to plague two players for Madden 10. Larry Fitzgerald and Troy Polamalu. Well last night Polamalu got hurt. No word on how serious but it just became laughable that the Madden Cover jinx still wont be phazed no matter what we throw at it.
At least they didnt put Jay Cutler on the cover! Who knows how much worse that could have become.