God vs. The Madden Curse

The cover athlete for the next Madden video game was revealed yesterday by EA Sports - Troy Polamalu AND Larry Fitzgerald. Setting aside the game mechanics and strictly the history of Madden cover athletes, Madden '10 is the first Madden game after the retirement of John Madden himself, the first cover with 2 cover athletes, the first cover featuring a wide receiver or a defensive back, the second cover featuring a defensive player (05' with Ray Lewis), the second cover featuring a player (Fitzgerald on NCAA 05) who has appeared on both NCAA Football and Madden (Shaun Alexander NCAA 01/Madden 07), and the cover with the most hair featured EVER.

Every year this whole Madden Curse discussion is brought up. If you're not familiar with it, since 1999 athletes instead of John have been featured on the cover and that season tends not to bode well for the athlete. ESPN just released a good Fact or Fiction article about the curse.

If you've seen either Polamalu or Fitzgerald on the field or in an interview, you've probably noticed their tenacity on the field is contrasted with their quiet and humble demeanor. It's rare these days to see such an attitude in the professional sports, especially an NFL defenseman or wide receiver. When asked yesterday about being a Madden cover boy, Fitzgerald commented that he and Troy are both 'firm believers in The Lord' and that 'The Lord controls your destiny.' It's great to see someone make an exclamation of faith in the face of superstition. You can check out that interview below:

ESPN-Fitzgerald's Not Afraid of the Madden Curse: