Chalk up another one to the "Madden curse," now that Philadelphia Eagles quarterback Donovan McNabb has elected to have surgery to repair his sports hernia and is expected to miss the rest of the season.
After the video game company announced in June that McNabb would be on the cover, the quarterback told ESPN.com that the cover athletes getting hurt "might be a trend, but I don't believe in the curse at all." But just look what happened. McNabb suffered the sports hernia in Week 1. His best wide receiver, Terrell Owens, was suspended for conduct detrimental to the team. And McNabb has had more interceptions (nine) in nine games than he had all of last season (eight). In his entire seven-year career, he has missed a total of seven games due to injury. He will now miss seven games this season. It will also be the first time in McNabb's career that he will have surgery.
"What we've been involved with has been coincidence after coincidence," said Chris Erb, senior product manager for the Madden game. "We've just had a string of bad luck."
In 2003, cover athlete Michael Vick broke his leg just one day after the game hit the shelves. He played in only five games that season. The year before, St. Louis Rams running back Marshall Faulk -- who had five straight 1,000-yard seasons -- injured his ankle after appearing on the cover. He ran for 953 yards that season and hasn't hit the 1,000-yard mark since. Gracing the cover of the 2002 Madden game meant a below-average year for Minnesota Vikings quarterback Daunte Culpepper. In the season he appeared on the cover, he threw fewer touchdown passes and had a worse quarterback rating than the season before.
Ray Lewis and Eddie George have also not been the same since being on the cover. Who will be the next victim?
