The Madden Curse – Why Brett Favre May Be The First To Break It!
For all the uninformed, the football season has a curse lurking. Many athletes refuse to acknowledge it, but it exists. The evidence is too overwhelming. Of course we’re talking about the Madden curse.
What is the so-called “Madden curse”? Well, the Madden curse is what happens to any athlete who is featured on the cover of the latest edition of the popular John Madden soccer video game series. What happens? They just get hurt! They could be injured for 1 game, or in the example of former Atlanta Falcons quarterback Michael Vick, they would lose their athletes for almost the entire year! Michael Vick was the featured athlete in Madden ’04 and missed out on the Atlanta Falcons with a knee injury during their 04-05 season! No matter the severity of the injury or the length of the injury, it seems that as long as the athlete is injured, the Madden curse is satisfied! A little known fact is that the Madden curse not only affects the athlete featured on the cover, but also affects the team that athlete is on.
For example, the 2006 cover of Madden featured quarterback Donovan Mcnabb of the Philadelphia Eagles. The Eagles were fresh from their Super Bowl run the year before against the New England Patriots (more on that later) and expectations were high among Eagle fans (myself included) for the team to return to the Super Bowl. , and this time to win! Unfortunately, it was not. I knew this was going to be a bad year because of Madden’s curse. And when I mentioned this to the less informed, they said, “You’re crazy! We’re going all the way to the Super Bowl!” The Eagle team that year barely made the playoffs and we lost Donovan Mcnabb for much of the season to various injuries. Now New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady was also supposed to be on the cover of that year’s Madden. And at the last minute, for whatever reason, he respectfully declined. Think about it. The New England Patriots were given the nickname “Dynasty” after their victory against the Philadelphia Eagles in the Super Bowl because this was their third Super Bowl victory in four seasons. So “Dynasty” was an apt title for the team. But during that entire “Dynasty” run, NO member of the Super Bowl-winning Patriots was on the cover of any Madden from 2002 to 2006. Isn’t that weird for you? That a Super Bowl quarterback wouldn’t want to be on the cover of Madden! According to some of the NFL athletes, being on the cover of Madden is one of the greatest honors that can happen to you as an NFL player. Why wouldn’t a Super Bowl-winning quarterback grace the cover of the world’s most popular football video game? Hmmm……
It was also rumored that in the same year, MVP of the 2006 NFL season, running back Ladanian Thomas’ entire fan base in San Diego signed a petition against him appearing on the cover of Madden because they didn’t want him to get hurt. . Coincidence? I do not think so! If you were to go back and research from the year that NFL athletes first appeared on the cover of Madden, you would find that every featured athlete was injured in that particular year. There are too many examples to refer to for proof of the Madden curse and we could go on and on, but instead I’ll give you one reason why Brett Favre may be the first to break it!
Brett Favre’s off-season activities were the result of a man who hadn’t looked for himself before he retired. The withdrawal from him, in my opinion, was an emotional decision rather than a physical one. Because of this, Brett Favre retired too soon and, realizing that he had made a mistake, he decided that he wanted to come back! Just one problem, the Green Bay Packers had moved on! And because of this, Brett Favre is now a New York Jet! If you look at the cover of Madden ’09, it’s Brett Favre on the cover in a Green Bay Packers uniform. Like I said before, it seems that Madden’s curse only affects the athlete and the team, if he is on the SAME team for the entire year. Since Brett is now on the New York Jets, we’re in new territory here! Does that mean the Green Bays’ new quarterback, AAron Rogers, is going to have a bad year? Does this mean the Green Bay Packers are destined to have a bad year? We do not know! We know that Brett Favre is on the cover in a Green Bay uniform which is why I think the curse will finally be broken! It could mean that the New York Jets could have a bad year! I do not know what is going to happen! But it will be an interesting year. I just hope next year your favorite NFL athlete isn’t on the cover of Madden!
