The release of Madden 11 will be one of the most hyped and anticipated events in 2010. This renowned franchise has been a phenomenon for the past 21 years. Every year, the EA Sports team visits the NFL draft in order to get head-shots of the new players in their new uniforms as soon as 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.
In the first week of the 2009 season, the Madden curse had already reared it's ugly head. For the first time in the series' history, two players graced the cover of Madden NFL 10. 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. 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. Whether you're just as superstitious, you can't deny the historical evidence of the Madeen curse's negative impact.
Some Hisrotical Examples:
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: 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 franchise QB (and a Madden player's favorite QB at the time) missed the entire 2003 season after gracing the cover of Madden 04. His team finished 5-11 (missing the playoffs of course) without him.
2006: Donovan McNabb was featured on the cover of Madden 06, and in week one of the 2005 season, you guessed it, Donovan McNabb suffered a hernia. It plagued ihim all season, and he eventually missed the last 7 games of the season.
That's the history of the curse. So, what will happen to this year's cover star?
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