With two and a half minutes remaining in the fourth quarter Columbine led the Mustangs 60-45. The crowd was growing for the Varsity game that was about to follow this game. No one was paying a whole lot of attention to the game when the run started.

R.V. hit a three pointer with a little over 2 minutes left to make the score 60-48. The mustangs got the ball back and hit another quick three to pull it to 60-51. Coach Wassinger called timeout to stop the clock and set up the defense.

The mustangs quickly fouled Columbine. The Rebel hit both freethrows to make it 62-51 with just under 2 minutes in the game. R.V. Sophomore Davis peterson then got fouled and made the shot to recieve a chance to complete a 3 point play. He missed the freethrow and the score stood at 53-62. Rv fouled again and the Columbine player made one of two freethrow attempts and the score was 63-53.

Junior Tanner Svejcar then missed a three and Peterson got the rebound to pull it to eight points. Another timeout followed. Just over a minute remained and Columbine missed two freethrows. Svejcar then got fouled on a three point attempt. He made all three freethrows. Columbine again missed a big freethrow and again R.V. took advantage of it with a shot by Sophomore Ben Metropolis. With about 45 seconds in regulation it was 63-60 columbine.

Again Columbine missed freethrows to ice the game. Tanner Svejcar took a quick shot on the other end and didn’t hit it. R.V. got the rebound when Junior David Cross hit the big three pointer to tie the game with about 25 secends left. In a span of two minutes R.V. went on a 18-3 scoring tear to tie the game.

Columbine called timeout. The gym started to get loud and support the J.V. squad. Columbine took it down the floor and couldn’t score. Svejcar threw up a three quarters court shot and the ball bairly missed as the buzzar sounded. Overtime.

Columbine scored first after hitting one of two free throws to make it 64-63. Little did they know this would be the last points scored that night. R.V. scored on their next two possesions to make it 67-64. Columbine couldn’t score again and fouled Svejcar. He missed the first made the second and it was the nail in the cofin to end the nail bitting Junior Varsity game 68-64.

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.

The Journey of Nathan Jurney started out at the age of nine. He was named the Rockies Rookie of the Month. The lucky kid got to meet Todd Helton and a tour of Coors Field.

Continuing to play baseball, he was in the Ralston Valley Program when the bad news came in 2006. He was a sophomore when he found out he had cancer.

“I distinctly remember the day that my little brother and sister and I went down and found out; it was the most emotional day of my life,” his brother David Jurney (10) said about that day.

Soon after that, the local schools were doing everything in their power to help: holding spaghetti dinners and silent auctions to raise money. Oberon Middle School did free buzz cuts to students so students would raise awareness and to help support Nate who was about to go into chemo therapy.

Good news would follow after a few months of fighting off his cancer.

Going into his senior year, he was able to do something only so many could dream of doing. Because of his story spread through the media and he had connections with the Rockies, he was able to throw out the ceremonial first pitch at Coors Field on October 14 in game three of the 2007 National League Championship Series.

“It was awesome. I was on the side watching him and I was nervous for him. I thought he was going to throw a wild pitch and embarrass the whole family with his sub par performance,” David joked. “But no, it was the time of my life, and I know that he will remember that night for the rest of his life.”

Nate’s first pitch started an incredible game where the Rockies beat the Diamondbacks in the cold rain 4-1.

Bad news followed the season as cancerous tumors started to show up on Nate’s lungs.

“We were all shaken up pretty good, but we knew we had to stay positive. And we did for Nate just so he never had the ‘bad’ thoughts enter his head,” David said.

Nate had a huge decision to make. He could have decided to get treatment, but would have had to miss out on his senior season in baseball. However, he decided to play his last season as a Mustang and prolong the treatment.

He made the right decision when he hit a huge RBI double in the State Championship.

This is where the story would usually end and the credits would usually end and the credits would start rolling, however the story does not end here. Over the summer, Nate lost his memory. He could not remember winning the State Championship and he couldn’t even remember his own brother.

“It was pretty bad when he was still in the hospital recovering, he didn’t really remember my name so that was a pretty big shock,” David said. “But he gets a little better every day and I think he’s pretty close to being back to normal.”

He can now remember winning the State Championship last year.

He has shown true love of the game. What Nate did last season was risky; however, he did it completely out of courage and hear. Something every high school athlete should look at.

Nate’s number, 17, is going to be retired in the baseball program. However, it should just be retired completely at this school. No other student in any sport should wear a Mustangs number 17 jersey again. Number 17 should be a sign of hope and courage at Ralston Valley.

“It’s kind of a symbol for Ralston Valley baseball now, it’s bigger than just a number, so we think it shouldn’t be worn by anybody from now on,” Austin Goodenow (11) said.

He played the game strictly for the love of the game. He played with passion and left a legacy no one can ever forget. Playing with cancer would surely inspire teammates to play as hard as they possibly can. That is what number 17 represents at Ralston Valley.

Nate told everyone through his last season to play every game as if it were the last. Most people would decide to do everything in order to stay alive, however Nate did everything he could in order to live.

It seams that as of late, when our athletes catch the eyes of the media our teams can’t perform under pressure.

Two seasons ago the football team was 11-1 and one game away from the 4A state championship. Earlier in the season the Mustangs pulled off a miraculous finish against Wheat Ridge with what seamed to be the tying touchdown as time expired. However the Miracle Mustangs went for 2 and the win giving Ralston Valley an 8-7 victory. Again they met Wheat Ridge in the playoffs. Earlier that week there was an article in the paper about the talented Ralston Valley defense that held top ranked Mullen scoreless the week before. Final score: Farmers 28 Mustangs 7.

Last season Ralston Valley had a loaded football team posting a perfect regular season record and winning the first game in the playoffs. With an 11-0 record they caught the attention from Fox 31. Marcia Neville came to RV and talked about the football team as if they were the 72 Dolphins. She also called our mascots bulldog and mustang showing us how intelligent she is. That night Ralston Valley went to battle against Monarch. Final score: Coyotes 34 Mustangs 28.

Last year’s basketball program started the season 4-5. They didn’t lose again in the regular season including an undefeated league record. As the playoffs began there was an article in the Denver Post about Ralston Valley’s Pierce
Hornung compared to Abraham Lincoln’s Francisco Cruise. RV met up with the Lincoln Lancers in the state semifinals. Hornung was held to 9 points in the Ralston Valley loss.

Hopefully we would have learned from these obvious occurrences with media coverage and would have kept our athletes in the dark. However we gave it one last go-round with the basketball team.

ESPN’s Rise Magazine did an article about Pierce Hornung back in January. As the playoffs began the CBS 4 News team did a story about Hornung most likely inspired by the magazine article. They ranted about Hornung and how the basketball team is one of the favorites in the tournament. The day that the mustangs went to battle with Arapahoe there was an article by the Denver Post preps columnist Neil H. Devlin titled Mustangs are in good hands with Hornung at the Helm. Final score: Warriors 58 Mustangs 54 OT.

Now notice that all the articles are positive articles praising the Mustangs. Remember my article I wrote at the beginning of the season when the Football team was 0-3. I wrote about how someone needed to step up and show some leadership. RV won seven games in a row and the league championship.

We should only allow the release of negative stories about our sports teams. Think about it. If there is an article saying that the Mustangs don’t have a prayer, then they will play harder just to prove everyone wrong. However when there is an article or news story about how unstoppable the mustangs are, the opposition is going to want to prove everyone wrong.

All this media coverage is not as much an inspiration for the mustangs as it is for the opponent