Word: maddens
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...stellar season by shredding the Pittsburgh defense for two touchdowns, while Polamalu keyed the Steelers' 27-23 victory with a series of bone-crushing tackles. Now the two are once again sharing the spotlight. On April 24, EA Sports announced the long-haired pair would share the cover of Madden NFL 2010, the newest iteration of one of the world's most successful video-game franchises. It's an honor that's historically been given to the top players of the previous NFL season - and one that may cause Arizona and Pittsburgh fans nightmarish visions of sprained ankles, torn ACLs...
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...
...Philadelphia Eagles QB Donovan McNabb (who graced the cover in 2005) and 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...
...basement, it’s more of a community-based thing, ’cause it’s the same people,” Madden says. “You see them there whether they’re playing the show with...