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Video games fans know very well about this so-called myth.

Football fans know far too much about this "honor" that has plagued so many players.

But there's no such thing as a curse right?

Madden NFL 11 will be released on Tuesday, August 10.

Super Bowl MVP Drew Brees of the New Orleans Saints won a fan vote earlier this year to grace the cover of the ever-popular video game. This has long been considered an honor as each year, one football player gets their mug on the greatest football game franchise ever.

One problem though has come with this honor and it's that it almost puts a target on the cover boy. Just about every player that has appeared on the game has experienced some kind of downfall in the season that follows.

A New Orleans Saints' fan such as myself needs to merely hope that there is some sort of divine intervention when it comes to Brees being the star on Madden NFL 11. The Saints just won the Super Bowl in February and are on a tremendous upswing so to have some curse shut the team down would just be horrible.

Players for the cover are usually chosen after having a really good season the year before and being on a team that also went a long way. Brees was chosen in the fan vote over Minnesota's Jared Allen and Indianapolis' Reggie Wayne. All three players had great years in 2009 and were on three of the last four teams remaining in the playoffs.

Once it was announced tat Brees had won the fan-voting and received this honor, you could hear a collective groan from the city of New Orleans. So many people have heard of this curse and it is obvious that football fans believe a lot in luck and history so this was not a good sign. Yet we here in New Orleans feel this honestly is a big privilege and it is being seen as such.

Any player can do everything in their power to not be superstitious or to make sure that they always play on top of their game. These are the factors that are somewhat in their control and that allows them to keep their minds in check and this "curse" from becoming truth. What can't be avoided is some sort of freak injury, no matter how careful they are or how much conditioning they do.

Let's take a look at the problems that have arisen for the cover boys of the Madden franchise:

• 2000 - Barry Sanders: Went out and abruptly retired on week before the beginning of training camp.
• 2001 - Eddie George: George had a fantastic year and it might actually be considered the best one of his career. He didn't have a very good playoff game though as he fumbled which helped the Baltimore Ravens take down the top-seeded Tennessee Titans.
• 2002 - Daunte Culpepper: Culpepper led his team to a measly 4-7 record before going down with a knee injury that officially ended his season.
• 2003 - Marshall Faulk: Missed two games thanks to an ankle injury and would not cross the 1,000-yard rushing threshold in a season again.
• 2004 - Michael Vick: Obviously he's had a lot of problems in his life, but the immediate impact of being on the cover was the biggest issue. Only one day after the game was released, Vick fractured his fibula and ended up missing eleven games.
• 2005 - Ray Lewis: The dominant linebacker broke a wrist and ended up missing only one game and not having an interception that season so not that bad. But the next year, he had a thigh injury that caused him to miss ten games.
• 2006 - Donovan McNabb: This was the year that McNabb ended up having the brotherly fight all season with Terrell Owens. It was also the last time he was in the Pro Bowl after five straight appearances. Let's not forget getting a sports hernia in the first game of the season and missing seven total.
• 2007 - Shaun Alexander: It was all downhill from here for the running back. Alexander fractured a foot and missed six games, but his career was never the same again.
• 2008 - Brett Favre: Departed the Green Bay Packers and ended up being traded to the New York Jets. He would lead the team well before completely imploding and losing four of the last five.
• 2009 - Troy Polamalu & Larry Fitzgerald dual cover: It appears as if the curse only affects one of the featured parties because Fitzgerald had a great season that year. The same can't be said for Polamalu who played in a mere five games that season due to knee problems. Pittsburgh really wasn't the same at all without him.

Now do you believe me? I'm hoping somehow or another that Brees can avoid all of this seemingly true nonsense, but if tragedy were to befall the Saints then you couldn't really color me surprised.

Still and like I said, the Saints can do certain things to make sure that they don't become lazy or cocky by simply playing the way they know how. If there is anyone on the offensive line though that plays video games or may be a little superstitious, then you can bet there's a bit of extra added pressure on their shoulders by making sure they keep every single defensive player they can away from Brees.

Linkback: The Examiner

Rugby Saint II

1. No.........but thanks for asking.
   

homerj07

God I hope not

breesfan27

Curses were made to be broken.

You can't put a curse on a city that was founded on curses (or something like that)

strato

I curse the curse!

Hand Grenade

This is my favorite Madden article:

Madden Curse - FootballDocs Fantasy Football

Nice shot of Brees. The history of this thing is pretty awesome. I doubt Brees will be shut down by any supernatural forces.

As the article stats, we have a lot of Voodoo in LA, so I think we can handle any curses.

SmashMouth