The Truth Behind The Madden Cover Jinx: Myth or Huge Coincidence?

One of the most popular video games of Play station 2, Xbox, and other gaming systems over the past decade has been the NFL football video game called Madden. The game is named after legendary and Hall of Fame broadcaster, John Madden who has made a living, not to mention a fortune, calling games and commentary for football on Fox. This year John Madden is calling the game on NBC for Sunday night football. However, in your own living room, John Madden might be calling the game right now on the top video game Madden 2006.

The Madden franchise has really taken off and adults, athletes, famous celebrities and children alike have taken a liking to this popular game. The Madden game allows you to play against the video game system, play against a friend sitting next to you on the couch with another controller, or you have the option of connecting to the internet and playing a stranger online for fun. In fact, the video game has risen in popularity so much that ESPN entertainment came out with a television show about Madden gamers who travel across the United States and play each other in a moving bus in the video game. Each gamer is sponsored by a professional NFL player and the gamer wears that player's jersey during the Madden tournament.

The interesting aspect of the Madden game has been the Madden Cover Jinx. Most NFL fans have already heard of this and to the average person this might seem absurd. A video game cover causing a jinx and lackluster performances by its cover boys? A hoax you might say? Well let's just take a look to see if this popular tale is a myth or really has some truth to it.

This past year's NFL player on the cover of Madden was Sean Alexander, Running Back of the Seattle Seahawks. The Seahawks make it to the Super Bowl but lost to the Pittsburgh Steelers. This year, the Seahawks lost their All Pro guard, Steve Hutchinson to free agency as he signed for more money with the Vikings. Running Back Alexander is below his running pace from last year and in his first two games of the season, he failed to run for more that 100 yards in each game.

On Madden 2006, Donovan McNabb was on the cover and the Eagles team, which had made the Super Bowl game the year before, turned into disarray caused by Terrell Owens who was subsequently benched for the entire season after wanting a new contract and trashing McNabb in public. The Eagles then missed the playoffs for the first time in more than five years.

In the year 2005, Michael Vick, the star Quarterback out of Virginia and one of the most electrifying quarterbacks in the nation was put on the cover. The previous year the Falcons had made the playoffs and gone deep into the playoffs including a win against Green Bay. However that year after Vick was on the cover, the Falcons failed to make the playoffs.

Other notable cover mentions include Ray Lewis and the Ravens who failed to make the playoffs that year after winning the Super Bowl and Eddie George of the Titans whose career plummeted quickly after his cover appearance and the Titans failed to make the playoffs.

So is this a fact or a great coincidence? We may never know.