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It's not my style to attack a guy who is trying to ride his Turducken off into the sunset. But it's clear that John Madden has taken things too far.
Why would a Hall-of-Fame coach and broadcasting icon who has no idea who I am have such a clear vendetta out on me?
Let's start at the beginning. First, he mocked all of my early gaming days. He and Summerall would criticize my plays calls, ridicule my choice to go for it on fourth down and say things like. "What was that guy thinking?" when I tried to reverse field and lost obscene amounts of yardage.
For years, then, he was haunted by The Immaculate Reception and took it out on me with biased color commentary of every Steelers game.
But Madden 2010 is the last straw.
Mr. Madden clearly wanted to retire this year alongside Brett Favre, but now is tormented by the fact that his last call was a Steelers' Super Bowl victory.
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So, as he heads off into retirement, our favorite jolly commentator decided to go for my jugular -- the 2010 cover with Troy Polamalu and Larry Fitzgerald on the cover.
Now, let's make something clear. The Madden Curse is not a piece of pop culture fiction like the Sports Illustrated jinx.
It's real and it's spectacular.
It has forced talented athletes into retirement, horribly injured others and even put a man behind bars.
So when John Madden and EA Sports put my favorite person in the NFL and my favorite college athlete ever on the same cover, it was a clear assault on me and my family. Let it be known that, much like Vito Corleone, I am a superstitious man. And should anything happen to any of these guys -- should they get struck in the head by a bolt of lightning -- I am blaming John Madden.
And heaven help us if they find their way onto my top 10 list of top Madden Cover Curses.
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10. Eddie George (2001)
George had the kind of season that threatened to officially end the Madden Curse -- he had nearly 2000 all-purpose yards and 16 TDs. However, he cost the Titans a playoff game with a costly fumble and finished his career injury prone.
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9. Daunte Culpepper (2002)
It can be argued that Culpepper avoided the curse because he had one of the great statistical years ever in 2004. But given that he had a knee injury the season after the cover, fell off the face of the earth a few years later, and then landed in Detroit, some of the curse certainly struck.
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8. Dorsey Levens (2000)
When Barry Sanders retired, EA turned the cover and the curse over to him. The results? One of the league's best backs turned into a journeyman backup for the rest of his career.
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7. Garrison Hearst (1999)
Hearst was the first Madden athlete cover and, while he followed with a great regular season, few that watched it will forget his horrific broken ankle in the playoffs. He had three decent seasons later, but was never the same.
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6. Vince Young (2008)
Young went from toast of the town in Texas, to savior in Tennessee, to benching and threatening to retire. The shot of him rolling out to throw is my favorite cover image to date -- and it sure beats him wearing a headset and carrying a clipboard.
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5. Brett Favre (2009)
If ever there was proof that Madden himself doesn't hold the voodoo pins, Favre graced the cover in a Packers jersey, then a Jets jersey and probably should have just stayed retired. He jilted the Packers fan base, was booed by the Jets faithful and retired again, forever cursed.
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4. Michael Vick (2004)
The fact that Vick was a bust as a quarterback takes a backseat to the fact that he's been wearing an orange jumpsuit as much as street clothes since this cover. This was by far the most immediate curse. One day after his Madden cover graced the shelves, Vick broke his leg in a preseason game.
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3. Shaun Alexander (2007)
Remember when Alexander rushed for 1,880 yards and 27 touchdowns? Me neither. Outside of his fantasy owners, it is hard to recall this because he fell so hard and so fast after the cover. After some time looking for a job, I think he's operating rides for Daniel Snyder at Six Flags.
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2. Marshall Faulk (2003)
Faulk's curse wasn't marked by a huge injury or any of the life-changing events that befell some of the guys on this list. However, Faulk's fall from superstar to average back was the epitome of the curse. The end of his streak of 1,000-yard seasons was just the beginning of the decline.
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1. Barry Sanders (2000)
Sanders might carry the dubious distinction as the best player in Lions history, but is also Ruthian in his role as cursemaker. Sanders was originally a shadowy figure in the background of the 2000 cover with Madden in the front before his strange and early retirement. He was fresh off of a '98 season in which he had over 1800 total yards.
Sonny Amato is a CBSSPiN Columnist. Follow him at http://twitter.com/sonnysside
Sonny's Side Bounceback: Think the Madden Curse is bunk or that Sonny's CurseMeter is way off? Drop him your funny, inane or insightful comment for his May Mailbag.
