by Timothy Williams

Created on: July 28, 2008

I shouldn't believe in sports curses, and neither should you.

I shouldn't believe in them because so often we've seen sports' "cursed souls" break through their curses. Michael Jordan never seemed too bothered by being on the cover of Sports Illustrated, nor does Tiger Woods, but the SI Cover Jinx is well-publicized. The Chicago White Sox weren't hindered by ghosts of Joe Jackson and Charlie Comiskey in 2005 when they won the World Series, nor were the Boston Red Sox a year prior held back by Babe Ruth's spirit. The 1994 New York Rangers won the Stanley Cup despite allegedly being cursed as a result of the last Ranger team before them to win Lord Stanley's Cup using the trophy as a toilet some fifty years earlier.

Still, despite seeing curses broken left and right across sports, there's one supposed jinx that I'm all but forced to buy into: the Madden Cover. The football player to make the cover of Madden NFL Football has performed below expectations every year since Electronic Arts stopped putting Madden himself on the cover. I believe in this curse because weeks before Madden NFL 2009 is released to the general public the curse has already struck. Maybe the player himself hasn't fallen to an injury and hasn't thrown an interception as a result of the cover yet, but the jersey he's wearing on that cover has taken a hit. (For those of you who do not know, the cover of Madden 09 will feature none other than Brett Favre.) The Packers-who are featured on the cover by virtue of Favre being in their uniform in the picture-are in the midst of a public relations fight that they simply can't win. Favre has returned, and wants to leave. The team is surrounded by controversy and the players are hounded by questions about their "retired" "former" teammate.

A Green Bay quarterback is on the cover, but he won't be Green Bay's opening day starter. The Packers' real starting quarterback-who would have enough problems getting out of Favre's shadow without all this-is going to be the most closely-watched player in the NFL until the regular season is well underway. That sort of pressure is often terrible for such a signal caller, especially one trying to transition himself into a starting role. To top it all off, there are no guarantees that the NFL's career leader in interceptions thrown is going to step onto a new squad and pick up where he left off. At Favre's age, injuries and poor performance are both entirely possible, even if they're words you'd never use to describe

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