The Madden Curse

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. 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 game has become so popular that tournaments where professionals play head-to-head for loads of money have made it onto television for our viewing pleasure. Millions of people take release day off work every year, and a Madden Holiday is as close as the game industry is likely to ever get to it's own national holiday.

 

You might also think that players are honored and delighted to be featured on the game's cover. Ever since 1999 when John Madden started putting players on the cover instead of himself, those players seem to either perform badly or suffer serious injury.

 

The Madden curse made it's mark again in 2009. In 2009, there were two players on the cover for the first time in the franchise's history. 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. He missed the rest of the seson.

 

You'd think that the NFL would have leraned it's leason 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.

 

The History of the Madden Curse:

 

2002: Daunte Culpepper, QB, followed up his 2000 NFC championship appearance by leading his team to a 5-11 season, and missed the final 5 games of the season with an injured knee following his fateful appearance on the cover of Madden 2002: he hsan't recovered yet.

 

2003: After gracing the cover of Madden 03, RB Marshall Faulk played the whole 2002 season with a hurt ankle and missed the 1,000 rushing yard mark for the first time in 6 years while his team rounded out the season with a 7-9 record, which wasn;t good enough for a playoff appearance.

 

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.

 

The evidence is stacking up. Whether it's just the impact on your attitude after being featured, whether it just effects your concentration in the preseason and training camp, or whether it's something more...mysterious, who knows.