I find it funny how many people refuse to believe in curses despite all the empirical evidence. Perhaps they don't believe in the supernatural. Perhaps they believe we control our own destiny 100%. I too once did not believe in curses. The idea just seems to implausible to be true. I knew of the Madden curse and didn't believe it until I drafted Michael Vick in 2004. The same year he agreed to be on Madden's cover and broke his leg in the preseason. I also didn't believe in curses when I saw the "Bartman ball" live on television, and then proceded to see the Curse of the BIlly Goat rise up again and strike down the ever deserving Chicago Cubs.

While all curses don't hold water its impossible to deny the Madden Curse. After you read the evidence that follows, you too will not be drafting the "lucky" player who accepts the next Madden NFL football cover:

This curse begins with the Madden NFL 2000 edition of his Electronic Arts videogame. Some people surmise this curse originated from Madden making a deal with the devil for his broadcasting fame but that one is a bit of a stretch. This was the first time a player appeared on the cover (this edition in the background behind Madden). The first victim was the great Barry Sanders:

Barry Sanders 1998 season stats- 1,491 rushing yards 4 touchdowns (4.3 ypc), not to mention 15,269 career rushing yards, a lock to break, then Walter Payton's record of 16,726 in the next season or two. Mysteriously, a week before Detroit Lions training camp in 1999, he retires for apparently for no good reason at all.

Eddie George was the next victim to fall for Madden although his next season of play after gracing the 2001 cover actually were career highs in rushing yards (1509) and touchdowns (14). However, after getting to the Superbowl the year before, in the next year's playoffs, George bobbled a pass leading to Ray Lewis intercepting it and returning it for a touchdown. That play ended the Titans season and in the years after George drastically declined and became injury prone before retiring after the 2004 season.

Daunte Culpepper after leading the Minnesota Vikings to the playoffs with 3,937 passing yards, 470 rushing yards and 40 total touchdowns in the 2000 regular season, then took on the Madden cover. The next year he led the Vikings to a 4-7 record as he had 13 interceptions and 7 fumbles compared to only 19 total touchdowns. He then injured his knee and could not finish the season. He now is forced to play on the Oakland Raiders.

Marshall Faulk was next with 1,382 rushing yards, 765 receiveing yards and 21 total touchdowns. The next season he was nagged by a lingering ankle injury. His production fell 31% having only 953 rushing yards, 537 receiving and 10 touchdowns. Faulk never had a 1,000 yard season afterwards and the Greatest Show on Turf (St. Louis Rams) plunged into mediocrity.

Michael Vick was next. Just five days after Madden 2004 was available in stores, the most exciting player in the NFL broke his leg in a preseason game against the Baltimore Ravens. The year before Vick had his best ever to date with 2,936 passing yards, 777 rushing yards and 24 total touchdowns. Since then he has not even come close to those numbers and has definitely lost some of his quickness he used to have. Not to mention his career might be over now due to his current situation with the law.

Next in line was Ravens linebacker Ray Lewis. Lewis only missed one game to injury but he was down in tackles to the prior year (163 to 147), but more importantly he only had 1 turnover compared to 8 the following year. Subsequently the Ravens missed the playoffs and have never been able to come close to duplicating their Superbowl success before the Madden cover. Ironically, Lewis also had some trouble with the law being indicted for federal drug charges for which he was later exonerated.

Donovan McNabb was the next greedy player to mock the curse. After having that great year with TO and making it to the Superbowl the year before, McNabb was injured in week one with a sports hernia. Trying to play through the injury the Philadelphia Eagles struggled and McNabb's stats plunged (3,875 pass yards to 2,507, 34 total touchdowns to 17). McNabb ended up having to have surgery and missed the end of the season while the Eagles ended up 6-10, their worst in 5 years.

Shaun Alexander of the Seatle Seahawks continued the tradition of the curse. Alexander put up 1,880 rushing yards, and set an NFL record 27 rushing touchdowns. Until the next year when Alexander broke his foot missing six games and only rushing for 896 yards and 7 touchdowns. To make matters worse, Ladanian Tomlinson of the San Diego Chargers also broke Alexander's short lived record this same year. Alexander continues to have inury issues and may never return to be close to his prior form.

And finally, the current victim: Vince Young of the Tennessee Titans. Young had a great rookie season with 2,199 pashing yards, 552 rushing yards and 19 total touchdowns. This year he has already had a quad injury, and missed one start, but has also played much worse, after Week 11 of the NFL he currently has only 1,112 passing yards, 217 rushing yards and 6 touchdowns, meanwhile has already thrown 10 interceptions and fumbled 3 times. And he still has 6 games yet to play this year...

Vince Young Madden Curse Update

Just an update on the infamous Vince Young who was hampered by a nagging quad injury about half the year (hmmm). Young finished the season passing for over 2500 yards but with only 9 touchdowns compared to his 17 interceptions. Instead of being the catalyst for this team, he became a detriment as the Titans defense ranked 8th in the NFL this year in points allowed and even higher in some categories.

Brett Favre Madden Curse Update

While nothing disastrous healthwise happened to Brett Favre it was pretty obvious the Madden Curse did a number on #4. Not only did Favre tarnish his legendary standing in Green Bay in an off season drama that ocurred which everyone would assume would be impossible sending Favre to the Jets, but statistically Favre also had a huge drop off as expected.

I can't speak first hand how much Favre is still loved in Green Bay but he has definitely tarnished what would have been a perfect legacy for Packers fans. Anecdotally it seems many Packer fans still like #4, but there are some who now hate him, and he definitely doesn't have the love that Green Bay used to have for him.

Statistically, Favre fell from his 4,155 yards, 28 TD's, 15 Interceptions and his excellent 95.7 rating to his current numbers of 3,479 yards, 22 TD's, 22 Picks, and a QB rating of only 84. Even worse Favre led the Jets close to the playoffs but fell short as his play worsened as the season progressed. Favre has gone from a must start fantasy QB to a huge gamble to start as he has had some terrible games. Perhaps Favre expected to stay retired when he agreed to take on this curse, but he definitely should have stayed retired afterwards as he might have tarnished his legacy forever in his hallowed grounds of Green Bay.

Now all we have left is to wait for the next victim to be announced. Part of me thinks Madden will again go for another recently retired high profile player which would definitely make things very interesting as we don't know if the curse would affect a retired player off the field. I suspect it might but we'll never know until it happens.