Calvin Johnson Jr. Vs. The Madden Curse

On April 25^th Calvin Johnson Jr. was announced as the cover player for EA Sports Madden 13, an honor as well as a curse. Since Barry Sanders appeared in the background of Madden 2000 there has been a “curse” of sorts that affected many of the players who appeared on the box.

 

Going down the line there have been retirements, sub par seasons, injuries and broken bones, losing streaks and Vince Young (he deserves his own category when it comes to the Madden curse). Larry Fitzgerald and Drew Brees had decent seasons following their covers but nothing like Johnson’s season.

 

In the Lion’s loss to Atlanta Saturday night Johnson set the single season receiving yards record, previously held by Jerry Rice (1995: 1,848 yards). Megatron had a monster night with 11 receptions for 225 yards putting his season total to 1,892 yards with one game left in the season. He is now shooting for the previously unheard of 2,000 receiving yards in a season, only 108 yards away.

 

He is averaging 126 yards/game in 2012 so to hit the needed 108 yards to top the 2,000 yard plateau is quite reasonable and you can be sure that Stafford will do everything he can to get the ball to Calvin Johnson in their season finally against Chicago next week, a game at home.

 

 

Has the Madden curse finally been broken?

Will Calvin Johnson, Jr. Feel The Curse?

On March 7^th EA Sports opened up voting allowing fans to select the player for the cover of Madden 13, which will be released August 28th. What began with 64 players was whittled down to only two, Lions WR Calvin Johnson, Jr. and Panther’s QB Cam Newton. Nearly 20 million people voted over the 7 week period.

At the announcement ceremony on April 25^th in New York City’s Time Square both Newton and Johnson, Jr. stood center stage as the countdown began on the big screen overlooking the square. When the picture came up showing Johnson, Jr. Cam Newton seemed quite puzzled, he had been acting as if he had prior knowledge that he was going to win but the fans spoke differently.

Now that the cover has been selected the question of the “Curse” will begin. Since 2000, when Barry Sanders appeared in the background, there has been some sort of fall off with each player. Some have been minimal, such as the case of Sanders who retired, while others were more serious like Donovan McNabb having a sports hernia followed by tearing his ACL the next season.

Calvin Johnson, Jr. had an awesome season last year catching 96 passes for 1,681 yards and 16 touchdowns, his best season so far. I guess this is a question that will have to wait until the end of December following the Lions Dec 30^th game against the Bears.

EA Sports Madden NFL 12 And Marshall Faulk

Marshall Faulk On-card Auto Version 1

Inserting cards in to video game packaging is not new, in the 90s we saw Ken Griffey Jr. cards inserted in to boxes of SNES Ken Griffey Presents and SNES Ken Griffey Jr. Winning Run, but it is an interesting cross over because many collectors are still young at heart and we are often drawn to video games so it is a logical decision.

Marshall Faulk On-card Auto Version 2

Recently digital cards have taken the place of actual cards but this year EA Sports and Panini have collaborated to insert one of four different on-card autographed Marshall Faulk cards in to every box of Madden NFL 12 Hall of Fame Edition. Plus two redemptions (1 in an Xbox 360 version and 1 in a PS3 version) will be inserted for an 18k gold version of a Marshall Faulk card in the continuation of Panini’s Golden Ticket series. There will also be digital cards included containing 13 NFL Hall of Famers and former Madden Football cover players including Barry Sanders, Shaun Alexander and Larry Fitzgerald.

Marshall Faulk On-card Auto Version 3

The  Madden NFL 12 Hall of Fame version is limited to 125,000 copies (not sure if that includes both Xbox 360 and PS3 or if that is each system) and costs a whopping $89.99. I was thinking that with each video game including an autograph Faulk card that must have taken some serious time for Faulk to sign all 125,000 copies. That would mean that there are a little over 31,000 of each of the 4 versions autographed (31,250 to be exact based on the 125,000 total copies). Currently Faulk autographs are running in the $10-20 range I wonder with 125,000 new Faulk autographs hitting the market if those prices will fall even lower.

Marshall Faulk On-card Auto Version 4

I am not really a fan of the fourth one, it just looks like a golden version of the third image. I for some reason like the first one, the Score style just shouts EA Sports. The second and third versions do have some appeal to them too.

Shaun Alexander Digital Card

Larry Fitzgerald Digital Card

Barry Sanders Digital Card