The Madden Curse: A History

Perhaps the most highly anticipated video game every year is the Madden NFL series from EA Sports. The Madden football games took the nascent video game industry by storm, and haven't slowed down yet. It's right there for the annual NFL Draft, creating shots of players on their new teams almost instantly. 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.

 

You might also think that players are honored and delighted to be featured on the game's cover. Since Madden gave up the game's cover appearance starting with the 1999 installment for a different annual cover athlete, that player has suffered from poor play or injury, leading to the belief that there is a Madden NFL curse.

 

In the first week of the 2009 season, the Madden curse had already reared it's ugly head. In 2009, there were two players on the cover for the first time in the franchise's history. It's a classic matchup that re-lives the drama of Super Bowl 43; Larry Fitzgerald of the Cardinals and Troy Polomalu of the championship Steelers. Troy Polomalu was injured in the Steelers' very first regular season game against the Titans. The Steelers had to play the rest of the season without their star defensive player.

 

You'd think that the NFL would have leraned it's leason by now. Players a) don't need the money and b) are quite superstitious in the best of times, so you'd think they'd just decline the offer from EA sports. Whether you're just as superstitious, you can't deny the historical evidence of the Madeen curse's negative impact.

 

The History of the Madden 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: 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: After taking a break in 2004, the curse was back at it for the 2005 season. Donovan Mcnabb was the cover athlete of Madden 06 and wouldn't you know, he suffered a sports hernai in week one, causing him to eventually get sidelined for the second half of the year.

 

That evidence is hard to refute. So, how will Drew Brees fare against the msyterious and enignmatic "Madden Curse?"