EA Sports announced that Seattle Seahawks’ cornerback Richard Sherman will adorn the cover of the next release of the wildly popular Madden NFL video game after beating out Carolina Panthers’ quarterback Cam Newton in the final fan vote. About three seconds later, talk of what misfortune would befall the most vocal member of The Legion of Boom began to swirl on sports programming across the nation.
Did Michael Crabtree somehow orchestrate an underground get-out-the-vote swell to exact revenge on Sherman?
Did Sherman’s hubris, a great strength on the field, become his tragic flaw off the field, with his complete and utter disregard for the power of “the curse?”
Or, did George R.R. Martin somehow write Sherman into book fourteen of Game of Thrones, sealing his fate and guaranteeing his grisly death?
Probably, none of the above. Because, well … Don’t tell anyone. There is no such thing as curses.
John Madden isn’t Cursed
The original version of Madden NFL, then known as John Madden Football, was released in 1988 and was written for MS-DOS on the PC, for the Apple II, and for the Commodore 64 and Commodore 128.
Appearing on the cover packaging of those 3.5 inch discs was coach Madden himself. In fact, from 1988 to 1994, Madden was the only person to appear on the cover of the video game.
It would seem that coach was doing pretty well during that period, setting the bar for excellence in NFL analysis, along with his partner Pat Summerall. Madden showed no signs of being cursed all the way up to his retirement in 2000 and beyond.
But, “the curse” only affects players, you say? Well, let’s look at that.
The Origins of the Curse
In 1994, Madden NFL 95 was released for Sega Genesis and SNES, as well as Game Boy and Game Gear, with Madden on the cover and Erik Williams of the Dallas Cowboys and Karl Wilson of the Green Bay Packers in the background.
On October 24, 1994, Erik Williams, the Cowboy’s Pro Bowl offensive tackle, was seriously injured in a one car accident, causing him to miss the remainder of the season. So, this is the beginning of the legend of “the curse.”
Of course, it’s rarely mentioned today that Williams’ accident occurred at 3:15 a.m. while driving home from a dance club where he and teammates were celebrating a 28-21 victory over the Arizona Cardinals. The accident occurred when Williams clipped a guard rail at a speed in excess of 75 mph. He was not wearing a seatbelt and the air bags did not deploy. A police officer noted that Williams appeared to have been drinking, but that alcohol was not a factor.
This all sounds like bad judgment and stupid behavior, not a curse from a video game. Oh, and by the way, nothing remarkable happened to defensive lineman Karl Wilson.
For the releases of Madden NFL 96, 97, Madden Football 64 (for the Nintendo 64), and Madden NFL 98, no players appeared on the cover, again only John Madden.
The same is true of the American version of Madden NFL 99, but curse proponents will point out that Garrison Hearst, running back for the San Francisco 49ers, appeared on the cover of the European version of the game.
After averaging 5.1 yards per carry for 1,576 yards and 7 TD’s in 1998, Hearst suffered a horrific ankle injury in the NFC Championship game against the Atlanta Falcons that caused him to miss all of the 1999 and 2000 seasons. Does a good season, but an injury in the playoffs equal a curse?
Madden NFL 2000 again featured John Madden with Barry Sanders in the background of the American version and Dorsey Levens in the background of the European version.
Levens is listed among the cursed, as following a 1999 season of 1,034 yards rushing and 9 rushing TD’s, he played only 5 games in 2000 because of a knee injury. But no one ever seems to remember that the original knee injury was suffered in 1998, the year before he appeared on the cover. The odds seem pretty high that a 30 year old running back with prior knee problems might miss a lot of playing time to a recurrence of the same injury. Again, not buying the curse.
Madden NFL 2001 had no effect on Eddie George, as the Tennessee running back rushed for 1,509 yards on a league leading 403 carries and 16 TD’s in 2000. 2001 saw a drop off in yardage, but not in the number of TDs.
The Age of the Curse is Upon Us
Believers in the Madden curse often site the six year run of Madden NFL 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, that featured Daunte Culpepper, Marshall Faulk, Michael Vick, Ray Lewis, Donovan McNabb, and Shaun Alexander, respectively. Each and every player was injured they’ll say. And this is technically correct. It’s important to remember that the year indicator for Madden NFL is always a year ahead, so Madden NFL 2002 is released in 2001 and so on.
Daunte Culpepper played in 11 games in 2001. For a mobile quarterback, missing 5 games due to nagging injuries isn’t that unusual. By 2005, Culpepper would not start more than 8 games in a season the rest of his career. This just doesn’t seem “curse” worthy.
In 2002, Marshall Faulk started 10 games and played in 14. The more significant drop off comes the year after his appearance on the cover, and even that isn’t too bad for an aging running back. At 29, in 2003, Faulk played in only 11 games. He would retire by the end of the 2005 season. This seems like a million other stories in the NFL of older running backs who slowdown from the years of pounding. Again, not really curse worthy.
Michael Vick fits the curse profile. He was on the cover in 2003 and was hurt in 2003, playing in only 5 games. He, like Culpepper, was a mobile quarterback, more prone to injury, as the last two seasons have shown.
Ray Lewis was featured on the cover of Madden NFL 2005, for the 2004 NFL season, and didn’t miss any significant time to injury until the following year. Delayed curse?
Donovan McNabb and Shaun Alexander were injured the year of their appearances on the cover.
McNabb played in only 9 games in 2005 and his curse lingered in 2006 as he played only 10 games and then the curse lay dormant until he donned a Vikings’ uniform and ended his career in 2011. He played in six games that year.
Shaun Alexander’s curse may have only been coming off a monster season in which he led the NFL in carries with 370, yards rushing with 1,880, touchdowns rushing with 27, and yards rushing per game with 117.5. So, to play in “only” 10 games the year of the cover was probably more a product of being run into the ground the year before, rather than some alleged curse.
The Curse is Lifted?
Vince Young won Rookie of the Year after appearing on the cover of Madden NFL 08. Granted he hasn’t done much sense, but that’s mostly because he’s not good at playing professional football, not a curse.
Brett Favre’s curse was playing for the Jets.
Troy Polamalu went to the Pro Bowl.
Drew Brees was Drew Brees.
Uh, Peyton Hillis was Peyton Hillis.
Calvin Johnson was a monster.
Adrian Peterson was All Day.
Which brings us to Richard Sherman. There’s clearly no curse. It’s been seven years since even a hint of a curse, even if you believe in things like that, and the six year run of cursed players is pretty easily explainable, after all, they do play football and football players get injured.
I’m not saying that Richard Sherman won’t suffer an injury, because there’s no way to know that, but if I had to bet on it, I’d predict the “curse” will be on opposing wide outs who come into Sherman’s territory this coming season.
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