It’s hard to believe that stupid superstitions ever come true. And then they do. I’m at work when I get the call. It’s my little cousin and rival fantasy football team owner Gregory.
“Two words man,” he says. “Madden. Curse.”
I’m thinking he’s just being an ass because my star player, Shaun Alexander, has only been doing “O.K.” when he should be tearing it up. Alexander scored 28 total touchdowns last season. He led his team to the Super Bowl and carried my fantasy team to the playoffs while picking up the 2005 NFL MVP Award. I get home and check the ESPN injury report. Shaun Alexander is listed out indefinitely with a broken foot. And thus the curse claims another victim.
Damn John Madden.
This curse started back when the makers of the Madden NFL football game began featuring active players on the box cover instead of Madden himself. People started to notice a string of weird circumstances involving Madden cover players. The Madden Curse reads like a hitman’s to-do list.
The first Madden cover in 1999 featured Barry Sanders, who quit football out of nowhere. The 2000 cover player, Dorsey Levens, went from a 1,000-yard rusher to getting cut from the Packers all together. Daunte Culpepper made the Madden 2002 cover and went from being the Viking’s star quarterback to struggling through a losing season until a knee injury ended his season. Marshall Faulk starred on the cover of Madden 2003. He missed six games with an ankle injury and went from being the top running back on a Super Bowl winning team and a Pro-Bowler for a good chunk of his career to never breaking the 1,000-yard mark the rest of his career. He eventually lost his starting spot to second-year player Stephen Jackson. Madden 2004 had Michael Vick on the cover. The day after the game’s release, Vick went down in a preseason game with a broken leg and was out for most of the year. Donovan McNabb graced the cover of last year’s Madden 2006. Defensive tackle Chad Lavalais of the Atlanta Falcons nailed McNabb with a helmet tackle the first game of the season giving him a sports hernia. McNabb battled through the injury before re-injuring himself and sitting out. The Eagles, who made it to the Super Bowl the previous season, ended with a 6-10 record and didn’t make the playoffs.
This year Shaun Alexander graced the cover of Madden 2007, and well, you know the story.
People point to past cover players Eddie George (2001) and Ray Lewis (2005) to prove the curse is just coincidence. Neither felt the sting. But I’m thinking whatever deal Lewis cut with the devil to stay out of jail after that one alleged stab happy night in Atlanta warded off all video game curses. Eddie George was just lucky to escape unscathed.
I went into damage control mode the second I saw the Madden Curse threatening my season. First, I picked up Shaun’s back-up Maurice Morris. It’s always a good idea to have your star running back’s next in line on your bench. Just in case. Also, make sure you take a peek at the new year’s Madden cover before you draft players. Just in case.
