The Madden Curse: A History

Probably the most anticipated xbox game of 2010 is the new Madden. The Madden football games took the nascent video game industry by storm, and haven't slowed down yet. In order to get shots of all the rookies in their new jerseys, the Madden development team shows up to the annual NFL entry draft. 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. And people are known to come up with every excuse in the book in order to get out of work on the very day the game releases - making it as close to a national holiday as the video game industry is likely to get.

 

For all the good that comes with the hype and hysteria of Madden NFL, there is a downfall to the game's yearly release. 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. Troy Polomalu was shown head-to-head with a man he covered in Super Bowl XLIII; Larry Fitzgerald of the Arizona Cardinals. In the Steelers' first game of the season against the Tennessee Titans, Polamalu suffered a medial collateral ligament sprain while blocking a field goal. The Steelers had to play the rest of the season without their star defensive player.

 

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.

 

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: 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 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.

 

You might not be superstitious, but it's hard to deny the evidence.