Word: gamely
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That's because many believe gracing a Madden NFL box is the surest path to the inactive list. Since announcer John Madden first ceded the cover of his eponymous game for the 1999 edition, one of the NFL's quirkiest subplots has been the "Madden Curse," which appears to leave the game's cover boys injured or ineffective the following season. "The jinx thing bites us every year," Chris Erb, a marketing director for the juggernaut video game, said in 2007. "I haven't told this to people, but I've got a bottle of champagne in my office that...
...luck dates back to the beginning. In 1998, San Francisco 49ers running back Garrison Hearst was the first person other than Madden to appear on the cover of the game, which debuted in 1989. During the playoffs, Hearst suffered a severe broken ankle that torpedoed not only that season but the following two as well. The following year's cover boy, Detroit Lions RB Barry Sanders - who only appeared in a silhouette behind Madden - announced he would be hanging up his spikes before training camp...
...Seattle Seahawks RB Shaun Alexander (2006), have had their seasons derailed by injury. But the strongest argument for a cover jinx comes in the prison-garbed form of Michael Vick. When Vick appeared on the cover of Madden 2004, he was heralded as the future of the game, a rocket-armed QB equally capable of carving up defenses with his legs. But within days of earning the cover, Vick broke his leg in a preseason game. He is currently serving a 23-month federal prison sentence for his role in a dogfighting operation...
Alexander wasn't exactly right. San Diego Chargers RB LaDainian Tomlinson declined the offer in 2007, though not because he was superstitious; Tomlinson's reps weren't swayed by the reported $100,000 to $200,000 deal EA Sports, the game's manufacturer, offers players for use of their likeness. But even among a group renowned for being superstitious - athletes have tried to bust slumps by donning women's underwear, eating the same meal each day and performing elaborate foul-line rituals - talk of a Madden Curse doesn't seem to have caught much traction. And for good reason. Most...
...part, Fitzgerald is unconcerned. "I didn't think about the curse," he said. And why should he? He's already appeared on a video game cover ("NCAA Football 2005") without incident. Besides, the year of the first shared Madden NFL cover has already been marked by the retirement of the game's first-ever cover boy. Perhaps Madden's departure will augur the start of a happier streak...