tr1 Posted August 24, 2007 Share Posted August 24, 2007 http://www.suburbanchicagonews.com/couriernews/sports/524653,3_2_EL24_B1LADEWSKI_S1.article August 24, 2007 If there's one thing that can cut an NFL player and even his team down to size almost as fast as a dogfighting scandal, it's not a severe groin pull or a late hit -- or even a venomous sports writer. No, it's the so-called Madden Jinx, which is the sentence given to the player on the cover of the EA Sports video game that NFL TV analyst John Madden endorses each year. Get your mug on the cover of the otherwise wildly popular game and the curse chews you up like its namesake does turkey legs on Thanksgiving day. "It's hard not to believe there's a Madden Jinx, I'll tell you that much," said Bears wide receiver Muhsin Muhammad, whose kids are addicted to the game, as are hundreds of NFL players. "All those guys were on the cover, and all of them had problems. It's pretty ironic, man." Last week, Madden NFL 08 hit the shelves, with Tennessee Titans quarterback Vince Young on the cover. One could almost hear Bears boss Lovie Smith shout, "Thank you, Touchdown Jesus!" while Bears fans groaned, "Dang, why couldn't it have been Rex Grossman?" ... Before the next person signs on the dotted line, he may want to read the fine print: • Barry Sanders, Madden NFL 2000: After the 1998 season, the Detroit Lions scatback was a lead-pipe cinch to become the all-time rusher in NFL history. Boom! Just like that, Dancing Barry up and quit before the start of the next preseason camp. • Eddie George, 2001: The Tennessee Titans back rushed for career highs of 1,509 yards and 16 TDs in 2000. Boom! George was never the same again. The Madden Jinx had only begun to clear its throat. • Daunte Culpepper, 2002: One year after the Minnesota Vikings quarterback threw a league-high 33 touchdown passes -- boom! -- he threw almost as many interceptions (13) as touchdowns (14) in 2001. He has yet to recover since then. • Marshall Faulk, 2003: The St. Louis Rams' do-it-all back rushed for 1,000 yards in seven of his first eight seasons. Boom! The streak came to a sudden halt in the 2002 season, which saw him sit out two games because of a bum ankle. • Michael Vick, 2004: Even before the real deal started -- boom! -- the Atlanta Falcons quarterback busted a leg in a preseason game. He sat out the first 11 games of the 2003 regular season. As Vick can tell you, the Madden Jinx comes with an extended guarantee. • Ray Lewis, 2005: Boom! The venom-spewing linebacker sat out the 2004 regular-season finale because of a wrist injury, failed to pick off a pass in a season for the only time in his career and his Baltimore Ravens were toast forevermore. • Donovan McNabb, 2006: After the Philadelphia Eagles got off to a 4-5 start --boom! -- a sports hernia grounded Mr. Chunky Soup for the final seven games of the 2005 campaign. • Shaun Alexander, 2007: Boom! The Seattle Seahawks workhorse got off to the worst start of his career, then a broken left foot turned Alexander the Great into Just Another Dude Named Shaun. As for Young, he already has punched a teammate, violated team rules and been suspended for one game this preseason. Uh-oh. ... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SkinsFTW Posted August 25, 2007 Share Posted August 25, 2007 As long as no Redskins player is ever on the cover I'm happy. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cuchip703 Posted August 25, 2007 Share Posted August 25, 2007 This is a jinx I truly believe. No Redskins on there please Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ejay183 Posted August 25, 2007 Share Posted August 25, 2007 Young will fall to the curse, like everyone else. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
turbodiesel#44 Posted August 25, 2007 Share Posted August 25, 2007 I would think many players would turn down the money and exposure of the Madden cover just because of the jinx. I'm not very superstitios myself, but that is quite a history. Has Madden ever spoke of this? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DCSaints_fan Posted August 25, 2007 Share Posted August 25, 2007 I'll bet it'll be something lame for Young this year like "despite significantly improving on his 2006 campaign, the Titans failed to make the playoffs because of one bad throw that Young made in the last game of the season" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SkinsFTW Posted August 25, 2007 Share Posted August 25, 2007 Well considering most players get hurt in some way most seasons, and good players after career years usually get somewhat worse the next season I'm not really sure that it's a real curse. Vince Young didn't really even have a good year last year. So maybe he will be the first to improve but that is doubtful considering all of his offensive weapons are gone now. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
phatSkins27 Posted August 25, 2007 Share Posted August 25, 2007 I remember shawn alexander making a big deal out of how he wasnt gonna be victim oif the madden curse...well all of these guys are young and dumb and feel invincible. They are not mere mortals in their own eyes and so Madden will get just about any playuer they want for as long as they want. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DieHardWSHfan Posted August 25, 2007 Share Posted August 25, 2007 I remember shawn alexander making a big deal out of how he wasnt gonna be victim oif the madden curse...well all of these guys are young and dumb and feel invincible. They are not mere mortals in their own eyes and so Madden will get just about any playuer they want for as long as they want. Didn't Tomlinson turn down the Madden cover, which is why EA then went to Young? I do believe players are catching on, and don't believe they're "invincible". Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CM916 Posted August 25, 2007 Share Posted August 25, 2007 I would think many players would turn down the money and exposure of the Madden cover just because of the jinx. I'm not very superstitios myself, but that is quite a history. Has Madden ever spoke of this? He could tell you that he was on the cover for years and never had any problems. Of course, if they put him back on it now, he'd probably break his hip or something. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DWinzit Posted August 25, 2007 Share Posted August 25, 2007 Didn't Tomlinson turn down the Madden cover, which is why EA then went to Young? I do believe players are catching on, and don't believe they're "invincible".Yeah LT did turn it down. He stated the money wasn't enough, but I think we all know the real reason. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
skin_finatic Posted August 25, 2007 Share Posted August 25, 2007 some are just dumb... eddie george killed it his year when he was on the cover, just because he sucked afterward doesn't have anything to do with the madden cover, he was just getting old. Ray Lewis missed the finale of the regular season and dropped an int, whoopdy doo...big curse there Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BUCS_FAN6263 Posted August 25, 2007 Share Posted August 25, 2007 McNabb can hardly stay healthy anyway. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
elkabong82 Posted August 25, 2007 Share Posted August 25, 2007 Young will fall to the curse, like everyone else. Yeah, and BMahoney will be there to wrap him in a blanket, tell him "it's alright", and deny the injury ever happened. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tyron Biggums Posted August 25, 2007 Share Posted August 25, 2007 It is hard to believe that your picture on a video game cover can be so detrimental to one's to career.. Hard to argue with history though. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
G.A.C.O.L.B. Posted August 26, 2007 Share Posted August 26, 2007 Note to self: To become journalist rewrite something that is on wikipedia. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Madden_curse Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jrfriedm Posted August 26, 2007 Share Posted August 26, 2007 As long as no Redskins player is ever on the cover I'm happy. That's what I've been saying for years. I don't ever watn to see a Redskin player on the cover of Madden! This is the only place that I'm glad that the Redskins "get no respect". Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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