The History of the Madden Curse

The release of Madden 11 will be one of the most hyped and anticipated events in 2010. Madden has been on the scene for 21 years, and pretty much everyone who is a fan of football or video games has picked it up and played. 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. Along with the game's popularity has grown a huge pro gaming industry, and now the world's top Madden players can make a living playing in tournaments or even just online. 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.

 

You might also think that players are honored and delighted to be featured on the game's cover. For the 12 years Madden has been boasing an annual cover athlete, those athletes chosen seem to either play poorly that year, or suffer serious and season-ruining injury.

 

Last year was no exception to the Madden curse, and it made it's mark in the very first week of the regular season. Two players made their way onto the cover of Madden 10 for the first time ever. Defending Super Bowl Champion safety of the Pittsburgh Steelers Troy Polamalu goes head-to-head with one of the men he covered in the big game last February, Arizona Cardinals wide receiver Larry Fitzgerald. In the Steelers' first game of the season against the Tennessee Titans, Polamalu suffered a medial collateral ligament sprain while blocking a field goal. Without their defensive captain, the Steelers struggled, ceding the AFC North division title to the Bengals.

 

You'd think that players and coaches would have learned about the Madden curse by now. Athletes are notoriously superstitious, and next time Madden comes a callin', most would be better off to just decline. If you don't believe in it yet, just take a look at all the historical evidence of a very real "Madden Curse.".

 

The History of the Madden Curse:

 

2002: QB Daunte Culpepper was honored with a Madden 02 cover appearance folliowing his team's final four appearance in 2000. He followed this up by missing the last five games of the 2001 season with a hurt knee, and his team missed the playoffs.

 

2003: Marking the beginning of the end of the "Greatest Show On Turf", Marshall Faulk of the Rams failed to rush for 1,000 yards in the 2001 season (for the first time since 1996) following his appearance on the cover of Madden 03 and his subsequent nagging ankle injury.

 

2004: Atlanta Falcons quarterback and franchise cornerstone Michael Vick was selected for the 2004 installment of Madden NFL, but missed the entire season after suffering a fractured right fibula in a preseason game and watched his team finish with a 5-11 record.

 

2006: Philadelphia Eagles quarterback Donovan McNabb was coming off a Super Bowl appearance, in which his team lost to the New England Patriots. But as the Madden NFL 06 cover athlete, his 2005 was destined for disaster and he suffered a sports hernia in the first game and ended up shutting down for the last seven games of the season.

 

That's the history of the curse. So, what will happen to this year's cover star?