During a recent radio interview, John Madden let slip that Vince Young is going to be on the cover of Madden 08. Not that interesting you might think, but apparently American football fans in the US place bets as to who the next cover star will be. Not that interesting either? Then you haven’t heard of the ‘Madden Curse’.
Spookily, every player that has appeared on the cover of Madden since 1998 has received a major injury or suffered from poor performance in the next season. Here’s a run down:
1999: Garrison Hearst broke his ankle and didn’t play again until 2001.
2000: Dorsey Levens only managed to gain 224 yards from scrimmage.
2001: Eddie George suffered from the worst averages of his career.
2002: Daunte Culpepper had a season-ending knee injury.
2003: Marshall Faulk had another ankle injury, causing him to miss five games.
2004: Michael Vick fractured his right fibula.
2005: Ray Lewes broke his wrist.
2006: Donovan McNabb required surgery for a hernia.
2007: Shaun Alexander had a fracture in his 4th metatarsal. Like our Wayne Rooney.
Madden was asked about the curse during the interview: “We had one version where I was on the cover, so I was thinking if you admit there is something to it, then it’s going to get you if you’re on the cover, so I had to pooh-pooh it.”
How rude!