Bay Area Sports Blogging

The Madden Curse is broken!

Vince Young has made the cover of Madden 08 and lived to tell about it. The vile curse has brought on misery to big name stars such as Marshall Faulk, Donovan McNabb, and Shaun Alexander. During pre-season, I predicted that Young would encounter a similar fate, with a season ending shoulder injury. No such luck.

Vince Young started 14 out of 15 games so far this year, and all indications say he will start in the Titans' last regular season game. In fact, the Tennessee Titans still have a chance at making the playoffs. That doesn't sound like a curse to me.

To be fair to the Curse, Vince Young had a mediocre year and did miss one game due to injury. Young has 2,389 passing yards with 9 touchdowns and 17 interceptions, for a passer rating of 69.5. I can't attribute all of Young's mediocre play on the Madden Curse, as he is still a young QB whose strength is in mobility and running, not passing.

The Curse appears to have lost the power to injure star athletes, settling to merely slowing them down. I start to wonder why the Curse lost so much of its power. EA has dropped market share in the gaming market. It had been reported that sales of Madden NFL 08 is down this year. It is possible that with decreased sales and market share, the Curse has been weakened.

Or... the Curse has simply moved on to its secondary target. New for 2008, EA released a Spanish version of Madden 08, entitled Madden NFL 08 En Espanol. On the cover of Madden NFL 08 En Espanol? Luis Castillo, of the San Diego Chargers.

In early November, Luis Castillo suffered a major ankle injury that would require the Pro-Bowl defensive end to miss significant play time. This injury has forced Castillo out of the last 6 Chargers games. Projections say he will try to play in tonight's Monday Night Football game, but that will be a game-time decision. Pro-Bowl caliber athletes suffering big injuries? This sounds like the same old Curse.

With EA's decision to spin-off the Madden franchise with a Spanish version, the Curse is now twice as dangerous. The Curse can tarnish either athlete, or it can demolish both cover athletes. Good going, EA!