Vince Young Dons 'Madden Curse' Crown
The Titans QB joins a list of players perhaps jinxed by video game cover shots.
Aug. 14, 2007 — -- To a believer in the Madden curse, the numbers speak for themselves.
The so-called curse can be traced to the 2001 release of the hugely popular and profitable football video game that featured running back Eddie George on the cover. Madden himself had graced every cover prior to the 2000 release, so George became one of the first players ever to grace the cover.
But the famously durable George, who was coming off another All-Pro season in 1999, suffered a serious but flukish toe injury the season after his cover appearance and recorded his worst season as a pro. That set in motion a much ballyhooed hex that now rests on the shoulders of Tennessee Titans quarterback Vince Young, the cover boy for the 2008 version released at 12:01 a.m. Tuesday.
"Ever since they've been on the cover, they've never been exactly the same player they were the year they graced the cover," Michael Fowler, the Web master who created www.maddenjinx.com, told ABC News. Fowler, a 25-year-old Cincinnati Bengals fan, said he built the site to document the undeniable trend.
A few of the more glaring examples:
Marshall Faulk landed on the 2003 cover following an All-Pro, Super Bowl season as running back for the St. Louis Rams, but the curse struck Faulk when he sustained an ankle injury the following year and rushed for under 1,000 yards for the first time in five years. The high-octane Rams went 7-9.
