Yuku free message boards

Madden Curse - Fact or Fiction?

Do You Believe In Curses??

Every year in August since 2000, video gamers all across the country line up to purchase the newest version of the EA sports' juggernaut game - Madden NFL Football. Everywhere except one place that is.......the city that is home to the player on the cover. Fans in Green Bay, Nashville, Minnesota, St. Louis, Atlanta, Baltimore, Philidelphia and Seattle have all experienced it first hand........THE DREADED MADDEN CURSE!

Since the popular franchise game began featuring players on the cover in 2000, a pattern of destruction has followed each and every one. Random events, season ending injuries, poor production, you name it, the Madden Curse has become part of American Football Lore.

For those of you unfamiliar with the depth of this modern day Urban Legend, let me briefly summarize the events of the past seven years:

Barry Sanders & Dorsey Levens (2000)

Barry was originally set to share the cover of the game with the customary picture of John Madden on Madden NFL 2000, but after 10 years he abruptly retired ending his storied career. Dorsey Levens of the Green Bay Packers was then put in his place. After rushing for 1034 yards in 1999, he gained only 224 yards from scrimmage in an injury plagued season, Levens was cut by the Packers after the 2001 season. He floated around with the Eagles and Giants, but ultimately retired in 2004 never again cracking the 1000 yard mark.

Eddie George (2001)

Eddie is a different story. The year he was on the box, he actually had career highs in yardage and TDs. But some argue that the curse struck him in the 2001 AFC championship game, in which George bobbled a pass which was then plucked away from him by LB Ray Lewis and returned for a touchdown, sending the Ravens to an eventual Super Bowl victory. In the following year, he average only 3 yds per carry and rushed for career lows in yards and TDs due to a naggin toe injury. For the rest of his career, he never averaged more than 3.4 yds per carry.

Daunte Culpepper (2002)

After a stellar campaign in 2000 in which he threw for nearly 4000 yds, 33 TDs while rushing for 470 yds and 7 more TDs, Culpepper struggled with turnovers in 2001, throwing 13 INTs for 14 TDs before suffering a season ending knee injury in the 11th game of the season. In the next 4 seasons, he had three subpar performances with a small resurgence during the 2004 season, but another potentially career ending injury in 2005 prompted his departure from Minnesota to Miami, where he has been less than impressive, undergoing a second surgery making his return questionable.

Marshall Faulk (2003)

In 2001, Faulk had over 2000 yds from scrimmage and 21 TDs. He followed that up with an appearance on the cover of Madden and 1600 yds & 10 TDs. Seems pretty good right? But he suffered an ankle injury causing him to miss 5 games. Consequently, Marshall never broke through the 1000 yard mark the rest of his career and is now a mainstay on the NFL network.

Michael Vick (2004)

Five days after the Madden 2004 game featuring him on the cover was released, Vick suffered a fractured right fibula in a preaseason game against the Ravens. The team finished 5-11 and Vick played in only five games. Vick did rebound for the 2004-05 season, leading the Falcons to the NFC Championship game, but has had two consecutive subpar seasons, missing the playoffs both years as well as having to deal with off the field issues.

Ray Lewis (2005)

After a career high 6 interceptions the season prior, Lewis missed the final game of the 04 season without a single interception. The Ravens also failed to make the playoffs after winning their division the year before. In the 2005 season, Lewis also had his season cut short due to an injury he suffered in week 6, BUT looks to have rebounded well this past year. We'll see what happens.

Donovan McNabb (2006)

After 4 straight appearances in the NFC championship game and leading the Eagles to the Super Bowl in 2004, Donovan graced the cover of Madden NFL 06 and promplty declared, "I don't believe in curses." What has followed has been two injury shortened seasons and questions about his durability. He suffered a sports hernia in 2005 requiring surgery and subsequently the Eagles missed the playoffs. In 2006, McNabb tore his ACL in week 11, but it is important to note he was tied with Peyton Manning for the league lead with 18 TDs at that point and was second in passing yards with 2569.

Shaun Alexander (2007)

In 2005-06, Alexander was the league MVP with 1880 yards rushing and a then-record 28 total TDs. Alexander had missed only one start in 64 games, but sustained a broken foot in 2006-07 causing him to miss six straight starts. He failed to rush for 1000 yards for the first time since 2000. Prior to last year, he had never posted less than 1500 yards from scrimmage or fewer than 16 TDs per season.

Vince Young (200

?

So there it is, the Madden Curse in all its glory. Some argue that there is no curse, that these events are merely the fact that these players are placed on the game's cover after such remarkable seasons that they are actually set up to fail because there is no way they could duplicate these performances. Others look at the pattern and tend to believe. It's no secret that LaDanian Tomlinson was the first choice for the cover of Madden 2008 but quickly turned it down.

Does Vince Young, 2006-07 NFL Offensive Rookie of the Year, stand a chance? On some other posts that I've written and read here, people already have an idea about what's going to happen, but I'm curious to know how many people buy into the curse and how many people think like McNabb and "don't believe."

You tell me..........