It was recently announced that Drew Brees will be on the cover of "Madden 11," the next installment of the Madden NFL video game franchise. He was awarded the cover by fan vote, winning out over Reggie Wayne and Jared Allen online. Even in mainstream coverage of Brees' cover announcement, every story seemed to include a quick bit about the Madden Curse, and whether or not Brees was "worried." Brees was clearly aware of the phenomenon, saying he "[looked] at it as a challenge."
John Madden himself was on the cover of every Madden title until 1999. From every year there on out, a star player was put on the cover. Apparently nothing notable happened for the first few years, but here's a list skimmed from Wikipedia:
- Daunte Culpepper appeared on the cover of "Madden 2002" after leading the Vikings to the playoffs the previous year. He then proceeded to throw 23 interceptions and set a single-season record for fumbles, dooming the Vikings to a 5-11 record.
- Marshall Faulk appeared on "Madden 2003." The next year, he needed knee surgery and failed to really perform at the same level ever again.
- Michael Vick was on the cover of "Madden 2004." That year, he broke his leg in the preseason and the Falcons bombed. Needless to say, Vick would only go on to worse things.
- Ray Lewis was on "Madden 2005." He got a wrist injury and didn't get a single interception all year.
- Donovan McNabb was on "Madden 2006." That year, he had a hernia and tore his ACL.
- Shaun Alexander appeared on "Madden 2007." A foot injury took him out of six games that next year.
- Vince Young was on the cover of "Madden 2008." He suffered a knee injury and was replaced for a large part of the season by Kerry Collins.
- Brett Favre was on the cover of "Madden 2009," in what was originally seen as an effort not to curse any player that year. Favre had retired, but ended up coming back to play for the Vikings that year. He generally played well, but struggled through a bicep injury and had a disastrous last few games.
- Troy Polamalu and Larry Fitzgerald shared the "Madden 10" cover, in another attempt to switch up the cover design and avoid a curse. Polamalu was injured for all but about three games the next year. Larry Fitzgerald had an amazing year, but did miss out on the playoffs due to a ribs injury.
Not that I think this really needs debunking, but it should be pointed out that Sports Illustrated covers are also considered to have a jinx. Given that a similar status symbol within sports should have the same effect gives you a clue there's something else at work here besides a curse. Both "Madden" and SI covers are awarded to a player at the peak in his career, so any other season of theirs will look disappointing by comparison. It takes really special players to have a season worthy of landing the cover of "Madden" and keep up that legendary play the next year. Regression toward the mean, and all that. Still pretty fun to look at, though.
