Ah the Madden curse, the most superstition in sport that no matter how far you are still deny seems to come true every year. Reasonable fan bases begin to Mut 20 coins freak the second out that their franchise star is declared to be face of the favorite gaming franchise — get fans! While it may look like all is lost when your team is set on the cover of a Madden game, you will find the tiny few that have trumped the curse of the power. Is there some type of key behind the ability of the curse? Today that is guess we will find out.
Hillis was not even a Pro Bowler if he had been selected to the cover of Madden 12, coming off a year in Cleveland where he rushed for 1,177 yards on 270 carries and 11 touchdowns. You really do have to applaud Browns fans (and Cleveland sports fans generally ) due to their loyalty as Hillis was voted in… only to have a garbage career then lasted seven years. Very Browns-esque indeed.
Sometimes when the Madden curse hits, it hits hard. He was a Pro Bowler and just came off a year where he took his team. Regrettably they would go on to drop against the Steelers, but that did not stop him from using a lights outside season where he rushed for 1,880 yards on 370 carries and scored 27 touchdowns. Following Madden he never rushed for 1000 again, was released from the Seahawks a few years afterwards and hung up his cleats at 31.
Apart from losing from the Super Bowl everything went McNabb, that was until he had been featured on Madden 06. The season marked the start of the ending for the QB that was acclaimed starting with a fall from him and celebrity wide-out Terrell Owens. And in week 9 he suffered a groin injury finish he season.
As a fan this one hurts to include here, but the year following Rob Gronkowski was showcased on Madden was among the most tragic. Expectations were high as the Patriots missed the Super Bowl the year earlier during a soul loss to Peyton Manning’s Denver Broncos. But matters would be tough to get Gronk all season long as he missed the first two matches of this season due to hamstring injury and didn’t seem himself until mid-season. Hey, at least they had that Super Bowl comeback on Atlanta.
Michael Vick, at one stage the face of the NFL itself, embodies what it means to be inflicted by the Madden curse. Just examine the cover, everyone bought that game to play as Vick who was virtually unstoppable in real life, but at the match he had been the equivalent to using a cheat code. You couldn’t play with an internet game without running into a Vick worshiper who would run cheap madden coins to get a bazillion yards out of the pocket each down. But one afternoon following Madden 04’s release, Vick who broke his leg in a preseason match limiting him was struck by the curse. Then came the dog fight with scandal which left in prison and him suspended. Thankfully he’s bounced back and appears to be an overall better man, but boy did this curse hit hard.