---------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The History of the Madden Curse
View PDF | Print View
by: mpsxboxblogger
Total views: 38
Word Count: 491
Madden is one of the most look-forward-to releases on xbox and PS3 every year, and this year is no exception. For more than 20 years, this franchise has been an undeniably big hit. The team behind Madden even attends the NFL Draft every year in order to get headshots of rookies in their NFL uniforms as early as humanly possible. The competetive side of the phenomenon has grown too, and now hundreds of pro Madden players make tons of money playing in tournaments. There is no other anuual release of any tyoe that demands the attention of Madden -- and the devotion, as bceomes clear when thousands of people take the day off work.
Amidts the excitement of the game's release, it can be slightly bittersweet for some players, namely those who get rated badly and, above all, the one who graces the game's cover. In 1999, John Madden relinquished the cover of each game to a player...and since then, those players have ahd notortiously rough years.
Last year was no exception to the Madden curse, and it made it's mark in the very first week of the regular season. Madden 10 was the first one to feature two cove athletes instead of just one. Both teams from SB 43 are acknowledged, with Troy Polomalu of the Steelers and Larry Fitzgerald of the Arizona Cardinals. Well, Polomalu got hurt in the very first game he played after being put on the cover of Madden, a medial collateral ligament sprain. He missed the rest of the seson.
One would imagine teams and players would have learned their lesson by now. Athletes are notoriously superstitious, and next time Madden comes a callin', most would be better off to just decline. As history has shown, going on the Madden NFL cover is almost guaranteed to affect a player, and probably his team, negatively.
Notable instances of the Madden NFL curse:
2002: Second-year quarterback Daunte Culpepper graced the cover for 2002, but was only able to follow-up an NFC Championship appearance the previous year by missing the final five games of the 2001 season with a knee injury as the Vikings missed the playoffs with a 5-11 record.
2003: As the 2003 cover athlete, St. Louis Rams running back Marshall Faulk had an ankle injury all season and failed to reach 1,000 rushing yards for the first time since 1996, while the Rams team went 7-9 and missed the playoffs.
2004: For the third year straight, the cover athlete of Madden suffered injury. In 2003, it was QB Mike Vick, who missed the entire season due to preseason injury. Without him, the Falcons went 5-11.
2006: Donovan McNabb was honored with a Madden cover appearance after his team made it to the Super Bowl in 2004. The curse struck him next season, and the sports hernai he suffered early in the year caused him to sit out the last 7 games.
You might not be superstitious, but it's hard to deny the evidence.
About the Author
The contributor is a game correspondent. Taking part in dozens sports Playstation tournaments, he publishes articles on the subject of the original xbox console game walkthroughs which he discovered himself.
Rating: Not yet rated