Curses! Will the Madden Curse Strike Again for Vince Young?

Electronic Arts has recently revealed that Vince Young will be the new poster-boy for Madden 2008. Young's leadership for the Titans (who just missed the playoffs last year) helped him take top honors, beating out All-Stars Peyton Manning and LaDanian Tomlinson for the position.

I'm sure they couldn't be happier.

If you're unfamiliar with history, the athlete that graces the cover-art of the Madden games usually succumbs to injury or lackluster performance the following year. Dating as far back as 1999, the "Madden Curse" has claimed ten athletes, each with their own unique "curse." Don't believe me? Read on:

In 1999, Garrison Hearst appears on the first Madden game to feature an athlete. Hearst had the best year of his career in 1998 (boasting 1570 yards and seven touchdowns), but suffered a bad ankle break in the playoffs. He would not play again until 2001.

In Madden 2000, both Barry Sanders and Dorsey Levens appeared on the cover. Sanders retired abruptly before the season even began, and Levens, who had run for over 1000 yards the previous year, managed only 224 from scrimmage. Levens was subsequently cut from the team in 2001.

Madden 2001 featured Eddie George, who was denied a championship the previous season. In 2001, George was plagued with turf-toe and averaged a career-low three yards per carry, along with career lows in yardage and touchdowns. For the rest of his career, he never averaged more than 3.4 yards per carry.

Still not convinced?

The 2002 iteration featured Daunte Culpepper on the cover. The Vikings went 4-7 with Culpepper at the helm (a far cry from the previous year), and after a season ending knee injury, Culpepper has yet to fully recover.

In 2003, Marshall Faulk was on the cover. Faulk suffered an ankle injury towards the beginning of the season, missing five games. He never topped 1,000 rushing yards again.

In 2004, Michael "Ron Mexico" Vick was on the cover. Not only did he break his right fibula in a preseason game (coming back only for the final five game of the season), but he accumulated only 585 yards and 5 touchdowns in that time.

Ray Lewis was the victim for 2005, with a broken wrist and zero interceptions on the year. Lewis and the Ravens missed the playoffs, and in 2005, Lewis had his season end abruptly with another injury.

As for 2006, Donovan McNabb was convinced that he would be the one to "break the curse." At this point, the curse was already well known, and McNabb would only give it more credence. McNabb spent the entire 2005 season battling a hernia (along with Terrell Owens), and had season ending surgery after re-injuring himself in the tenth game of the season.

Finally, last year, the 2006 rushing champion Shaun Alexander was featured on the cover. Alexander, who had never missed a game in his entire career, suffered a fracture in his foot during week one. Alexander tried to play through it, but missed weeks three through nine. Alexander averaged only 3.6 yards per carry, as opposed to 5.1 in 2005 (the loss of Steve Hutchinson certainly didn't help matters). To add insult to injury (literally), Alexander's touchdown record lasted just one season until LaDanian Tomlinson broke it in 2007.

So now, Vince Young appears to be next. I'm not saying that his fate is certain - far from it, actually. However, you can only wonder why Electronic Arts wasn't able to feature a more "statistically relevant" player on their cover. Here's looking at Vince, because it would be a shame to end such a promising career so early.