Curses Are Reality to Fantasy Leaguers

Shaun Alexander rushed for 1,880 yards and scored an NFL-record 28 touchdowns last season for the Seattle Seahawks, yet he isn’t the consensus No. 1 running back choice of fantasy league players. Some tout sheets rank him only third among running backs, behind Kansas City’s Larry Johnson and San Diego’s LaDainian Tomlinson.

That’s because when fantasy leaguers look at Alexander, they see the curses. Two of them. The curse of being on the cover of John Madden’s video game and the curse of playing on a team that just lost the Super Bowl.

The Madden curse is legendary. Appear on the cover of the EA Sports video game and prepare for trouble. Every cover star since 2000 has encountered injury, subpar performance or both during the season immediately following his anointing.

The Super Bowl curse holds that every Super Bowl loser since 2000 has failed to reach the playoffs the next season.

Not many players are doubly cursed. The last was Philadelphia Eagles quarterback Donovan McNabb in 2005. McNabb suffered a multitude of injuries and sat out seven games, and the Eagles finished 6-10.

Already, Alexander is beset with omens. DirecTV is running a print ad plugging its 14-game NFL Sunday package with a doctored photo of 14 Pittsburgh Steelers defensive players lined up against four Seahawks. Alexander, mysteriously, is missing.

Trivia time: Until the 1999 NFL season, Madden appeared alone on the cover of his video game. For better or worse, who was the first player to appear on the video game cover?

Has to be the reason: Meanwhile, Dallas Cowboys fans are wondering if there isn’t some pirate version of Madden’s ’07 game floating around with Terrell Owens on the cover.

Fear by fear: A review of the Madden curse, year by year:

2000 season: Eddie George, coming off a Super Bowl defeat, lost a key fumble in a playoff loss to Baltimore.

2001: Daunte Culpepper sat out five games because of injury, and his Minnesota Vikings finished 5-11.

2002: Marshall Faulk, coming off a Super Bowl defeat, suffered an ankle injury and failed to rush for 1,000 yards, and his St. Louis Rams finished 7-9.

2003: Michael Vick broke his leg the day after the video game hit stores.

2004: Ray Lewis sat out a game because of injury, and his Baltimore Ravens failed to make the playoffs.

2005: McNabb sat out the last seven games. The Eagles lost five of them.

Trivia answer: Detroit running back Barry Sanders appeared on the cover of Madden’s game before the 1999 season. Sanders never played another down, announcing his retirement during training camp.

And finally: Then there’s the cover of the FIFA 2007 soccer video game, another EA Sports product. Pictured on this year’s cover are Ronaldinho and Wayne Rooney, who suffered and endured their curses before the game’s release.

Ronaldinho failed to score a goal in the World Cup, and Brazil, the tournament’s prohibitive favorite, lost in the quarterfinals. Rooney was red-carded in a quarterfinal against Portugal, and England was eventually eliminated on penalty kicks.