Curses! John Madden strikes again

Maybe it's the world we live in, but it's a little twisted to get more phone calls about Shaun Alexander's broken foot from my friends than phone calls on Rosh Hashanah from my family. Either way, you can forget about sanctimonious holidays for a second -- the supernatural was at work this week.\nAlexander's broken foot validated something analyst John Madden couldn't conceptualize with a nifty sports jacket and a telestrator (the device he uses to superimpose his light-penned diagrams on video camera footage) -- the Madden Curse. \nIf you are a Boston Red Sox fan, you know about curses. If you are a Chicago Cubs fan, sorry, buddy, you're living in one. Ditto for Cleveland Indians fans. And Philadelphia sports fans? I don't know what's worse: being a Phillies fan or contracting a venereal disease from an 80-year-old woman at a gas station in Gary.\nSorry to play Insensitive Ira, but the only curse I care about is the Madden Curse. Since the 2001 version of EA Sport's famed football video game series, the athlete that dons the cover of video gaming's most lucrative franchise has been subject to misfortune. \nAlright, it's pretty inconsequential in the grand scheme of things. But for college males, it holds some significance. The love affair with "Madden" is like that episode of "South Park" when senseless organizations steal the boys' game console to get them involved in a military conspiracy. And in the end, all they want to do is play video games with their stoned-out talking towel. That's like college life. Ask someone what the capital of North Korea is (anybody, off-hand?). Then ask what LaDanian Tomlinson is rated in "Madden NFL 07" (he's a 97, by the way).\nBut curses are curses, and "Madden" has a cultural significance and a following that rivals any sports team, except it never lets you down.\nNothing has a more sustainable popularity with college kids than "John Madden Football." The senseless commentary by the big man just accentuates his popularity. Though, one would be ready to swallow a cyanide tablet after cruising with Madden and partner Al Michaels on his cross-country bus. You'd be counting how many times Madden and Michaels could use "boom" and "miracle," respectively, in the trip.\nBut supernatural forces might have possessed this sweet-ass game.\nFormer Tennessee Titans running back Eddie George juggled a pass into the arms of Baltimore Ravens linebacker Ray Lewis in the AFC Divisional playoffs the year he inherited the cover for "Madden NFL 2001." He also ran for a career-low three yards per carry that year. For "Madden NFL 2002," then-Minnesota Vikings quarterback Daunte Culpepper wore his purple and yellow on the cover. He later had season-ending knee surgery after starting off the 2001-02 campaign 4-7. \n"Madden NFL 2003" highlighted St. Louis Rams running back Marshall Faulk, who spent the year on the cover while battling injury. He didn't break 1,000 yards for the rest of his career. In fact, he never played another full season in the NFL. For "Madden NFL 2004," Atlanta Falcons quarterback Michael Vick suffered a fractured right fibula in a preseason game the day after his picture was released on the cover.\nThe next year, "Madden NFL 2005" featured Lewis, who was kept out of the last game of the regular season due to injury. It was also Lewis' first season without a single interception and in week six the following year, his season ended early because of injury. "Madden NFL 06" flaunted Philadelphia Eagles quarterback Donovan McNabb on the cover. He developed a sports hernia in the first game of the season and played with pain until the 10th game, when he was knocked out for the season.\nAnd now we are in the present day where Alexander is added to the list of "Madden victims," which leaves me with a question to all of you: Do you believe in the curse? Do you even care? If you don't have a Y-chromosome, most likely not.\nBut John Madden is like EA Sports' sugar daddy, and though video games seem trivial, it fashioned a culture. When this college way of life has some direct correlation with professional athletics, one begins to wonder.\nWith all the superstition and curses floating around the sports world, nothing seems more tangible and afflictive than the Madden Curse.