Perhaps the most anticipated video game each year is EA Sports’ Madden NFL series. This renowned franchise has been a phenomenon for the past 21 years. He’s right there for the annual NFL Draft, creating shots of players on his new teams almost instantly. TV shows pitting some of the most talented Madden NFL players against each other in tournaments are shown around the world. And people have been known to make every excuse in the book to get off work the same day the game is released, making it as close to a national holiday as the video game industry can get.
For all the good that comes with the hype and hysteria of Madden NFL, there is a drop in the game’s yearly release. Ever since Madden relinquished the game’s cover appearance beginning with the 1999 installment for a different annual cover athlete, that player has suffered from poor play or injury, leading to the belief that there is a Madden NFL curse. .
The curse of the Madden NFL series has already reared its ugly head this season. For the first time in series history, two players grace the cover of Madden NFL 10. Pittsburgh Steelers Super Bowl defensive back Troy Polamalu goes toe-to-toe with one of the men he covered in the great game last February. , Arizona Cardinals wide receiver Larry Fitzgerald. In the Steelers’ season-opener against the Tennessee Titans, Polamalu sprained his medial collateral ligament while he blocked a field goal. He is expected to miss three to six weeks of action and the Cards should play cautiously against Fitzgerald in a bubble every game.
One could imagine that the teams and players would have learned their lesson by now. When EA Sports calls, it’s probably in everyone’s best interest to decline the offer, regardless of how prestigious and financially rewarding the opportunity may be. As history has shown, appearing on the cover of Madden NFL is almost certain to negatively affect a player, and possibly his team.
Notable instances of the Madden NFL course:
2002: Sophomore quarterback Daunte Culpepper was featured on the cover of 2002, but was only able to follow up one NFC Championship appearance the year before by missing the final five games of the 2001 season with a leg injury. knee when the Vikings missed the playoffs with a 5-11 record.
2003: As the 2003 cover athlete, St. Louis Rams running back Marshall Faulk suffered a season-long ankle injury and failed to reach 1,000 rushing yards for the first time since 1996, while the team the Rams went 7-9 and missed the playoffs.
2004: Atlanta Falcons quarterback and franchise cornerstone Michael Vick was selected for the 2004 Madden NFL installment but missed the entire season after suffering a broken right fibula in a preseason game and watched his team finish with a 5-11 record.
2006: Philadelphia Eagles quarterback Donovan McNabb was coming off a Super Bowl appearance, in which his team lost to the New England Patriots. But as the Madden NFL 06 cover athlete, his 2005 was doomed and he suffered a sports hernia in the first game and ended up shutting down for the final seven games of the season.