Bleacher Report - Articles by GreekWarEagle

The Madden Curse: Will It Strike Again?

GreekWarEagle — Thu, 11 Sep 2008 09:45:06 -0400

We've all heard about it. Some believe, and some don't. But you can't argue against the startling coincidence. Time and time again, the NFL player who has appeared on the Madden cover has hard an unfortunate year.

History of the Madden Cover

The cover of the infamous game was given to John Madden himself up until 1998. I'm sure some would say that was a curse in and of itself. But we will start our analysis at the first person other than Madden.

Garrison Hearst—Madden 1999

Garrison Hearst of the San Francisco 49ers was the first victim. He appeared on the cover for the 1999 game, only to break his ankle so severely during the season that he wasn't able to play again for two years. When he did return, it was never to the same level of play.

Barry Sanders—Madden 2000

Some say this game is the exception to the Madden curse since Barry Sanders isn't the forefront of the cover. Madden returned while Barry was a small, transparent point in the background.

In any case, Sanders' appearance is still relevant. The curse presented itself in a new manner, when Sanders suddenly retired. Sanders was expected to break Walter Payton's all-time rushing record that season, and walked away from it all after being place on the cover.

Eddie George—Madden 2001

Tennessee Titans RB Eddie George graced the cover in 2001. That year he had a costly fumble which cost the Titans the playoffs. Then he suffered a career-changing toe injury which caused his lowest rushing totals ever. He would ultimately retire with the nickname 2.7, his average yards per carry that season, and a play on his jersey number.

Daunte Culpepper—Madden 2002

The year before Daunte Culpepper received the honors, he had thrown for almost 4,000 yards. A back injury sidelined Culpepper for most of the next year. He never truly recovered, and his productivity never matched what he had done before. Culpepper has since retired from the NFL.

Marshall Faulk—Madden 2003

Faulk was a great running back in 2001 with the St. Louis Rams. The team was 14-2 and went to the Super Bowl. However, after Faulk made the cover he became much less productive, and suffered some nagging injuries. The Rams finished the season 7-9.

Michael Vick—Madden 2004

Highly praised out of college, Michael Vick seemed like he had it all. The Falcons thought they were about to be on the move. His first year out of college, Vick made the cover. But before he ever played a regulation game he broke his leg in preseason. This injury came only one week after appearing on the cover of Madden '04.

His road to the NFL Hall of Fame was derailed and never got back on track. In his downtime while recovering from a broken leg, he found some new hobbies such as dog fighting.

We all know where that ended up.

Ray Lewis—Madden 2005

Lewis and his Baltimore Ravens won their division the year before he appeared on the cover. Lewis was a standout player with six interceptions and some key plays. The next year Ray Lewis was plagued by injuries and didn't make a single interception.

Donovan McNabb—Madden 2006

McNabb and the Philadelphia Eagles made it to the Super Bowl in 2004. He gets on the the cover, and comes out the next year playing horribly. McNabb was hurt most of the season, and the Eagles finished 6-10.

Shaun Alexander—Madden 2007

Alexander had one of the better years a RB has ever had in the history of the NFL in 2005. After receiving the cover, he returned, only to suffer a boken foot, miss half of the season, and watch as his records are broken by Ladainian Tomlinson.

He never returned to top form, was eventually released by the Seattle Seahawks, and has not found a home in the NFL yet.

Vince Young—Madden 2008

At first it seemed as if the curse could skip this year. After Vince Young's rookie year, where he won Rookie of the Year and sent his team on a winning streak, no one believed the curse would strike someone so young and promising.

The next year Vince didn't play as well as before. In his sophomore slump, he threw more interceptions than touchdowns, but the Titans still made the playoffs, so curse avoided right?

In his first game of 2008, he refused to take the field after throwing two interceptions. The next night the police were looking for him because his friends, family, and teammates were worried about his "mental stability."

Now he is out for two-to-four weeks with an MCL sprain.

Brett Farve—Madden 2009

He's placed on the cover after retiring as a Green Bay Packer. He retires, unretires, and ends up on the New York Jets.

Will the curse prove itself to be true yet again? Or will Brett put a stop to all this nonsense and prove that it's just a startling coincidence?

At the very least, it's something fun to talk about.

"Justa SEC": SEC and Other News That I Care to Bring Up

GreekWarEagle — Mon, 08 Sep 2008 10:39:32 -0400

Here we go! College football is in full swing now, and just two weeks in, debates can already begin. This is just a quick rundown of what I saw, heard, or just feel like commenting on from the past weekend.

"Vandy is Dandy!"

South Carolina - 17 : Vandy - 24

Can you believe that Vandy is 2-0? Not only that, but as of this moment, Vandy is on top of their division in the SEC. Now I know that won't hold, but still they were looking good last Thursday with their win over South Carolina. They made the Head Ball Coach throw his visor for the first time in a few months.

Since it's early in the season and I can still say this, maybe this IS the year. Maybe Vandy COULD see a bowl game. Maybe they have finally found a way to keep that lead they always seem to lose after halftime...or maybe they just had their annual unexpected upset a little early.

"Auburn dominates with a passing game? What the hell?"

Auburn -27 : S. Miss - 13

Well, it would seem Auburn has settled on a QB. I'm not sure I agree with it yet. But Chris Todd did put up some nice numbers and hit pretty much every receiver that the Tigers had on the field.

The questions on the table are: Does he have the arm strength to throw the long ball? Can he move when he needs to avoid those painful SEC sacks? Guess we'll find out...

Interesting side note, almost every running back AU has fumbled on Saturday, two of them in the red zone. Someone please make sure they duct tape a football to their hands for the rest of this week.

"Bama does NOT lose the game after a big win!"

Alabama 20 - Tulane - 6

Seems like no one is acting like themselves these days. Bama showed signs of poor output against Tulane, but in the end, the scoreboard showed a hefty beating.

I was getting a little nervous after watching the Clemson game, but this game gave me some hope. Those reading may know I'm a huge Auburn fan, and I may from time to time be a little bias towards my school. But I'm not blind, nor am I that type of a fan (like most Bama fans) that absolutely HATES my rival.

I enjoy watching Bama football; I rooted for them against Clemson and was very impressed. I would love to seem them win every game except their last one. Of course that could be a violent meeting, because I want Auburn to win EVERY game, and both these teams showing up undefeated for the Iron Bowl would probably cause some sort of focused hatred and tension that the dead will rise from the grave, like the river of hate in Ghostbusters 2. But at least Bama may be able to get the Bear back, so there's that.

"Ole Miss, Near Miss"

Ole Miss - 28 : Wake Forest - 30

I almost cried, this was one of those games that every SEC football fan gets excited for the little guy. Hated rivals come together when a fellow SEC brother about wins an unexpected game against a non-conference team. But regardless, Ole Miss's near win makes us all look better, and exposes the rest for the lackluster conferences they are.

"Other Stuff"

East Carolina is on a roll! I started watching them after my favorite NFL teams picked up Chris Johnson in the draft, and man, they are great. Like someone else posted, I bet a lot of schools are looking at how to get them off their schedules for the next few years.

Ohio State is fine. Hopefully they will beat USC, I don't really believe it, and probably won't bet on them, but I just hate USC. They just got caught sleeping last week.

Vince Young pouts on the sideline, keep a spanking fun Jeff Fisher, then runs back onto the field only to hurt his knee. Maybe now we REALLY do have playoff chances with him sitting out the next three or four weeks.

Tom Brady pulled the complete opposite of VY. While some Titans fans see Vince's injury as a good thing for the team (Would never wish harm to the man, just saying more good passes = more TD = more wins) the cornerstone of the Patriots team (Tom Brady) goes down for the season with a torn ligament in his knee.

Are the Patriots done now? Will Brett Favre lead the Jets to the playoff now with Brady out?

There a lot more to talk about, but my lunch break is only so long at work, and I think that should be enough to get the conversation started! Enjoy, and talk to you later!