It’s being reported early today in Seattle that our own Shaun Alexander will grace the cover of Madden 2007, to be released this August on all platforms……is this a good thing??
Some history – ESPN ran a story I believe last year or this year talking about the “Madden Jinx”. In the history of the Madden game, it’s kind of been uncanny lately, but that cover player at some point the next year suffers an injury, and/or the team goes in the toilet. Check it out:
Madden 2006 – Donovan McNabb – team fell apart, he was lost to a season-ending hernia injury
Madden 2005 – Ray Lewis – suffered a season-ending injury
Madden 2004 – Michael Vick – suffered a broken leg, season-ending injury in preseason
Madden 2003 – Marshall Faulk – knee and shoulder injuries, Rams go 7-9
Madden 2002 – Daunte Culpepper – back and knee injuries cut his season short, team went 5-11
Madden 2001 – Eddie George – hurts his foot, favored Titans upset in playoffs by Ravens
Scary.
That said, it can also be noted that Shaun Alexander was on the cover of another EA Sports title, NCAA Football 2001, and that didn’t hurt him one bit. So there.
All jokes aside? This jinx will be broken this year. Alexander is as durable as it gets. He takes care of his body, avoids huge hits (except for Lavar’s elbow) and has a great offensive line and fullback to pave the way. I think he won’t be what he was this year, I mean that was an all-time season, but I do believe that we can put it in ink for 1500 yards, 20 TD’s and a lot of redzone efficiency again.
On the Cougs recruiting front – there are whispers that all-everything QB is serious about the Cougs and loved his visit during spring practice, and in fact has the Cougs as his leader. But he’s also just returned from trips to Utah and BYU, and it’s now well-known that he is a devout Mormon. There is strong talk that he will go on a mission, which could delay his arrival to Pullman until 2009-2010? That might be ok, in the long run, when you consider the QB depth the Cougs have right now, and I’m talking young depth. It would be nice to have Munns in our back pocket in a few years.
Also, more Locker to MLB talk per the Go-To guy. Mixed signals, still, and he’s been up-and-down as a pitcher. Still, an MLB team scouting DIRECTOR (not just a regional scout) will be at his next game, today, so there are some rumblings (per KJR today) that some teams have him moving up their MLB draft boards.
I saw some video of Locker the other day on FSN, and while it’s hard to tell sometimes based on the video quality, the competition, the camera angles, etc, I have to say….and this is hard to say…..that this kid is tremendous. I can understand some of the John Elway athlete comparisions, I mean there are some plays he makes with his legs and arm that normal QB’s just cannot do. But I also watched a Brett Favre DVD the other night, and they had high school highlights of him when he played in an option-style offense where he only threw about 15 times a game?? I swear I thought I was watching Jake Locker. Be afraid, and hope like hell an MLB team falls in love with him!!!
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