The release of Madden 11 will be one of the most hyped and anticipated events in 2010. Madden has been on the scene for 21 years, and pretty much everyone who is a fan of football or video games has picked it up and played. In order to get shots of all the rookies in their new jerseys, the Madden development team shows up to the annual NFL entry draft. Television programs pitting some of the most talented Madden NFL players in tournaments are shown around the world. There is no other anuual release of any tyoe that demands the attention of Madden -- and the devotion, as bceomes clear when thousands of people take the day off work.
For all the good that comes with the hype and hysteria of Madden NFL, there is a downfall to the game's yearly release. For the 12 years Madden has been boasing an annual cover athlete, those athletes chosen seem to either play poorly that year, or suffer serious and season-ruining injury.
In the first week of the 2009 season, the Madden curse had already reared it's ugly head. Madden 10 was the first one to feature two cove athletes instead of just one. Defending Super Bowl Champion safety of the Pittsburgh Steelers Troy Polamalu goes head-to-head with one of the men he covered in the big game last February, Arizona Cardinals wide receiver Larry Fitzgerald. In the Steelers' first game of the season against the Tennessee Titans, Polamalu suffered a medial collateral ligament sprain while blocking a field goal. He missed the rest of the seson.
One would imagine teams and players would have learned their lesson by now. Players a) don't need the money and b) are quite superstitious in the best of times, so you'd think they'd just decline the offer from EA sports. If you don't believe in it yet, just take a look at all the historical evidence of a very real "Madden Curse.".
Historical examples of the Madden Curse:
2002: After making it to the NFC with the Vikings in 2000, quaerterback Daunte Culpepper missed the final five games of the 2001 season (after being fatured on the cover) leading his team to a record of 5-11.
2003: Marking the beginning of the end of the "Greatest Show On Turf", Marshall Faulk of the Rams failed to rush for 1,000 yards in the 2001 season (for the first time since 1996) following his appearance on the cover of Madden 03 and his subsequent nagging ankle injury.
2004: The Madden Curse struck for the third year in a row in 2003, when star QB Michael Vick missed the entire season due to a fractured fibula he got in a preseason game.
2006: Donovan McNabb was honored with a Madden cover appearance after his team made it to the Super Bowl in 2004. The curse struck him next season, and the sports hernai he suffered early in the year caused him to sit out the last 7 games.
That's the history of the curse. So, what will happen to this year's cover star?
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