I don't think it's a curse as much as that when someone makes the cover they are at the height of their game/popularity, so there really isn't anywhere to go but down.
Too many NYJ haters and Sanchez haters out there for him to win the thing anyway. Did anyone really think we would? It was the NYJ fan base vs 31 other fan bases.
Yeah that was my point, except in the cases where the player gets a injury. I think happened twice, Vick breaking his leg and missing 12 games. Can't remember the other right now.
I figured Sanchez would at least make it past Brees since he was on it just last year, but whatever. This is Rodgers' cover to lose no matter who else is in it.
its odd, pennington was never on the cover of madden... yet he all the kings horses and all the kings men etc etc
I am voting for Patrick Willis for a defensive player to be on madden solo. Last one was Ray Lewis. In '05 i believe
The other? Players featured on the Madden cover have missed time the following season a bunch of times now. Ray Lewis, McNabb, etc. Regression to the mean is expected, but the amount of times athletes have severely regressed the following season is more than you might expect just from taking a random sample. http://www.joystiq.com/2009/09/11/madden-curse-strikes-back-polamalu-suffers-knee-injury-in-seaso/
yes if you were actually taking a random sample, but you aren't. You are taking a sample of the top players in the game, at the height of their game. Correct me if I am wrong, but those players normally have made very deep postseason runs the year before. Thats a ton of extra wear and tear on their bodies. yes they have plenty of time to heal up, but we see it year in and year out. Part of the reason it has become so damn hard to repeat is because the next year the top 2 teams seem to get decimated with injuries. Often to their star players who have been taking the most hits, or been playing the most snaps. Another added piece is these guys are generally not young players, Vince Young excepted. Their bodies don't bounce back from deep playoff runs as easy as the younger guys do. So it doesn't surprise me at all. In fact I wouldn't be shocked to see one of the top 3-4 players from each of the final four teams miss significant time next year. We as Jets fans saw it this year with Jimmy. we can only hope whoever gets bit by the injury bug next year is not essential to us winning a title.
For some reason I thought serious amounts of missed time were less. This sums it up well- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Madden_NFL#Madden_Curse
A)It's not always players who make deep playoff runs. B)The players on the cover actually are more often young than not. Exception: Favre, who had retired. The rest of the players weren't even 30 when they made the cover. These are star players in their 20s, not washed up vets. You want to argue Vince Young is the exception? It's not at all true. Culpepper: 24 Vick: 23 Most of the players were 28 or 29, and then you had some (Culpepper, Young, Vick, Fitzgerald) younger than that. The only real argument against is to say small sample size. The amount of times cover athletes have either missed significant time or experienced a significant decline is clearly more than otherwise would be expected from stars in their 20s.
bottom line is there is too much evidence saying it will be bad so i couldnt be happier that sanchez is not on the cover.
Yeah, he's been campaigning like crazy during the whole tournament on his Twitter and Facebook pages.
