The Madden Curse Continues
In an eerie trend of atheletes who are on the cover of the Madden game getting injured – Troy Polamalu left last Thursday night’s game with a knee injury that will keep him out at least 3-6 weeks. Fantasy owners are probably hoping Larry Fitzgerald, who shares the Madden 2010 cover with Polamalu, wraps himself in bubble wrap when suits up to play. Here’s a quick rundown of the cover atheletes and their ill-fated seasons following:
2002: Daunte Culpepper – Suffers a knee injury and misses 5 games and produces horrible numbers – Vikings finish the year 5-11.
2004: Mike Vick – Breaks his leg in a preseason game and misses all but last few games of year – Falcons struggle to a 5-11 record.
2005: Ray Lewis – Suffers a season ending hamstting injury in Week 6.
2006: Donovan McNabb – Tears his ACL midway through the season while running out of bounds
2007: Shaun Alexander – Suffers a broken foot and misses 6 games. Ultimately his career is never the same.
2008: Vince Young – Has a mental meltdown and is replaced for the rest of the season and following season in favor of Kerry Collins.
2009: Brett Favre – After a fast start – the Jets miss the playoffs and Favre suffers a torn bicep
Which brings us to Madden 2010 with Polamalu getting injured in Week 1 of the 2009 season. If I were an NFL athelete, I would stay clear of that cover.
