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I'll be the first to admit, I'm a little superstitious. It's not that I run away from black cats or avoid ladders or throw salt over my shoulder... but when it comes to gambling, there's just some things I refuse to do. One thing that I refuse to do is draft the NFL Player to grace the cover of Madden. I know it sounds silly (I've already been ripped by some for my stance)... but every player who's been on the cover of Madden for the past 12 years has seen injury, poor performance, scandal or plain old bad luck shortly there after. You don't have to believe, but you can't argue with 12 years of facts. Because of this, I will be avoiding Calvin Johnson and Stafford in this year's draft.

2013 - Calvin Johnson - TBD
2012 - Payton Hillis - Injury costs 5 games, illness costs 1, season long poor perfomance, Browns regress
2011 - Drew Brees - Played 6 games with a torn MCL, but still played every game in 2010 with career high in INTs and Sacks. Following year Peyton freak knee injury, "bounty-gate"
2010 - Larry Fitz and Troy Polamalu - Fitz came through reletively unscathed except for cracked ribs in the last game of the season, missed the pro-bowl. Polamalu sprained MCL, Torn PCL season over.
2009 - Brett Farve - Appeared on the cover as a Packer and retired. Came out of retirement to join the Jets, ankle injuries, shoulder injuries, sex scandal. Jets regress.
2008 - Vince Young - Suffered a few small injuries in 2007 and poor performance, completely unraveled in 2008 and hasn't been relevant since. Titans regress.
2007 - Shaun Alexander - League MVP, suffered multiple foot injuries, missed 6 games and never returned to form. Seahawks regress.
*2007 - Ladainian Tomlinson - Refused the 07 Madden Cover. 2006 was his peak year, then chronic injuries mounted up and his stats tailed off slowly after that.
2006 - Donovan McNabb - Sports hernia and exploding knee... season over.
2005 - Ray Lewis - Season ended with wrist injury, Lewis's first season without an INT
2004 - Mike Vick - Broken Fibula in preseason game... dog fighting and federal lockdown the following year
2003 - Marshall Faulk - Knee issues began mounting up and Faulk's numbers declined rapidly
2002 - Dante Culpepper - Poor performance, threw 23 INTS and broke the NFL record for most fumbles. Never regained pre-madden form and knee issues forced him out of the game
2001 - Eddie George - Poor performance, nagging injuries that he played through and career declined there after
2000 - Dorsey Levens - Poor performance, released after the season ended
*2000 - Barry Sanders - Just before training camp, Sanders retires. Falling short of the NFL record for rushing. Lions cursed with 10 year losing record.
1999 - Garrison Hearst - Severe broken ankle, out for two years and never returned to form

There it is folks... the history of the Madden Curse. Do you believe or dis-believe? Garbage or significant? Will this keep anyone from drafting Megatron this season?

Boogieman for football fans. Nothing more.

whatever..im not a jinx or hex person whatsoever either..but lets call it the trend..i dont like the trend.

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Its pretty bad when an aquatic animal is getting more human booty than I am..lol
~5X Champs

RB's after heavy workloads, running QB's, a safety that is often injured and a QB that was damn near 40, and I'm supposed to be surprised? If this were horseshoes and people were getting injured it would be one thing, this is football.

If we're going to actually discuss this "trend" nonsense, how about we look at how WR's have done after the Madden cover. Well, looks like they did just fine. There goes that theory. And if Calvin gets injured this season people will cry to the high heavens about the Madden curse yet ignoring his physical play style and injuries over his career. Same old voodoo.

im the last guy who would argue supernatural bad luck..right?

So..im saying it's a nasty trend..i choose to avoid. The only wr was fitz..thats a survey of one.

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Its pretty bad when an aquatic animal is getting more human booty than I am..lol
~5X Champs

Great Article. I will send the link to "Voodoo Dream" in my league and offer him Luck and Benson to take him off his hands.

I love that Sanders retiring is on the list, and refusing the cover gets you cursed too.

Just to be clear

When Calvin misses the 2011 1600/16 mark and goes for 1300/12 this yr, that was not a Madden Curse.

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of course..but what if...

..i hope not, ive got him in my home $$ league..

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Its pretty bad when an aquatic animal is getting more human booty than I am..lol
~5X Champs

Well, now that we're including players retiring, and players NOT on the cover in the curse, anyone who was voted on this year to be on the cover can have something bad happen, and the believers will point at it.

You know what else is on the cover?

This:

Madden has cursed the entire league. Seems that way in the 14 years or so sometimes.

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"They talk of democracy, freedom, fairness. Those are the creeds of cowards! The ones who would listen to a thousand view points and try to satisfy them all. Achievement comes through absolute power! And power through strength! They have lost!"

John Madden was on the cover...and he went retarded.

I could probably pick 12 random players out of a hat and come up with similar things. People get hurt in football and people don't stay on top for very long.

The only reason I wouldn't draft Megatron is because of WR value in later rounds. I'd rather have a RB or QB.

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Its pretty bad when an aquatic animal is getting more human booty than I am..lol
~5X Champs

I think he will go for around 1300 yards and 14 TDs

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QB-Tony Romo, Joe Flacco, Jay Cutler
RB-Chris Johnson, Stevan Ridley, Deangelo Williams
WR-Greg Jennings, Brandon Marshall, Steve Smith CAR, Antonio Brown, DHB
TE-Kyle Rudolph
DEF-Green Bay, Denver
K-Tucker