WEBVTT - Thinking Sideways: The Madden Curse 0:00:00.320 --> 0:00:03.600 Thinking Sideways is not brought to you by cats walk 0:00:03.640 --> 0:00:06.360 in your face to wake you up. No, Instead, it 0:00:06.480 --> 0:00:09.680 is brought to you by a Crime Conen. That's right, 0:00:10.039 --> 0:00:15.000 Crime Coneen in Nashville, Tennessee, has May fourth through the sixth, 0:00:15.120 --> 0:00:17.959 two thousand and eighteen. It's gonna be all kinds of 0:00:18.000 --> 0:00:22.200 cool stuff, true crime authors, celebrities, Nancy Grace is gonna 0:00:22.239 --> 0:00:24.760 be there. And of course we're gonna be there. I mean, 0:00:24.840 --> 0:00:27.120 you have Thinking Sideways will be there, We'll be handing 0:00:27.120 --> 0:00:29.080 out autographs. Are only like when I don't know what 0:00:29.240 --> 0:00:31.280 five bucks is, I want to do is okay? Yeah? 0:00:31.400 --> 0:00:33.840 And uh there's there's no dogs this here. 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Go to 0:01:03.400 --> 0:01:07.440 stitcher dot com slash Thinking Sideways, use that promo code sideways, 0:01:07.480 --> 0:01:09.360 and you will get one month free. When you signed 0:01:09.400 --> 0:01:21.040 up for twelve months, that's your premium. It's it's something sidewater. 0:01:33.640 --> 0:01:37.360 Hey there, and welcome again to Thinking Sideways, where once 0:01:37.400 --> 0:01:41.440 again we have a mystery for you. This week, we're 0:01:41.520 --> 0:01:45.880 gonna talk about a completely different kind of mystery. Well, first, 0:01:46.000 --> 0:01:49.000 what is your name? Well? I was going to tell 0:01:49.040 --> 0:01:51.120 people where we were talking about before I told him 0:01:51.120 --> 0:01:53.680 who I was, so that maintained the mystery. But if 0:01:53.680 --> 0:01:59.559 you want to what is your name? Who are you? People? 0:02:00.120 --> 0:02:04.000 What's going on? I actually figured if I talked long enough, 0:02:04.040 --> 0:02:05.800 one of you would spill my name so you could 0:02:05.800 --> 0:02:08.000 tell me who I was, because I don't remember anymore. 0:02:08.200 --> 0:02:10.639 We are Thinking Sideway. That's Steve over there that I'm 0:02:10.639 --> 0:02:13.920 pointing to. There's Devin. Yeah, um, I one of these 0:02:13.960 --> 0:02:22.079 two guys as Joe better known as Wolf. Yeah. Okay, 0:02:22.160 --> 0:02:25.079 well okay, should we talk about stuff? Yeah, let's talk 0:02:25.080 --> 0:02:27.880 about some stuff because that was a beautiful, beautiful intro 0:02:27.919 --> 0:02:31.520 I'm glad to be scripted very well. This week we're 0:02:31.520 --> 0:02:35.440 gonna be talking about the supposed curse surrounding players who 0:02:35.480 --> 0:02:39.800 were featured on the cover of the Madden NFL Game. 0:02:40.720 --> 0:02:43.800 Supposedly it ruins their careers or does bad things through 0:02:43.840 --> 0:02:48.520 their careers and seasons and their team seasons. And it's 0:02:48.560 --> 0:02:53.080 kind of a fun one, a sports mystery. It's also 0:02:53.160 --> 0:02:56.760 it's also kind of pop culture mystery. Yeah, kind of is. 0:02:57.240 --> 0:02:59.200 But I do want to say right off the top here, 0:02:59.720 --> 0:03:03.799 I'm not a huge football fan. I mean, I know 0:03:03.880 --> 0:03:06.239 a little bit about it. But the point is there 0:03:06.240 --> 0:03:09.120 are fanatics out there who get a little upset sometimes 0:03:09.120 --> 0:03:12.000 when you drop a stat I'm not a sat guy. 0:03:12.400 --> 0:03:16.400 Give us a little bit. We're an ministries podcast, not 0:03:16.480 --> 0:03:19.040 a football podcast. Right, You can only know so much. 0:03:19.800 --> 0:03:22.680 So we know what football is, Yeah, we do, we do. 0:03:22.760 --> 0:03:27.920 We're talking well, we're talking about American football where they 0:03:27.960 --> 0:03:31.160 kick up all around. We're talking about not the good football, 0:03:31.320 --> 0:03:34.960 We're talking about the dumb football. Well, you both have 0:03:35.040 --> 0:03:39.520 managed to alienate all of everything everything, all right, Well, 0:03:39.600 --> 0:03:41.240 these two are gonna leave. I'm just gonna tell you 0:03:41.240 --> 0:03:44.280 about the story. It'll be great. But I do want 0:03:44.320 --> 0:03:47.200 to before we get into the story, mentioned that this 0:03:47.360 --> 0:03:50.240 was a listener's suggestion. This was suggested a couple of 0:03:50.280 --> 0:03:54.000 years ago by Peyton Manning. I think, so okay, I 0:03:54.080 --> 0:03:57.960 kind of think, all right, Peyton, I think might have 0:03:57.960 --> 0:04:00.480 been a little pissed that he wasn't picked for the cover. Well, 0:04:00.520 --> 0:04:07.240 you know what it'll um, So let's let's kick things 0:04:07.320 --> 0:04:12.360 off and talk about the banning the Madden Curse. As 0:04:12.400 --> 0:04:15.720 I said, players are featured on the game's cover and 0:04:15.800 --> 0:04:19.880 then they have poor performance, and this seems to have 0:04:19.960 --> 0:04:25.000 affected most, if not all, but quite a few of 0:04:25.080 --> 0:04:28.080 the players. Uh. And there's there's a bunch of details 0:04:28.080 --> 0:04:30.280 here that before we dive into the curse we need 0:04:30.320 --> 0:04:33.560 to dive into first. They're kind of precursor bits of information. 0:04:34.600 --> 0:04:37.599 For those of you who are not familiar with Madden NFL, 0:04:38.000 --> 0:04:41.120 which actually was originally known as John Madden Football. It 0:04:41.440 --> 0:04:45.440 is a video game, so it's been on consoles since 0:04:45.480 --> 0:04:49.200 the beginning of time. The game was originally released on computers, 0:04:50.720 --> 0:04:54.279 but immediately jumped over to the console world, so it 0:04:54.360 --> 0:05:00.640 was on Sega Genesis and the Supernintendo. Several pixels or 0:05:00.680 --> 0:05:03.960 something like that has more pixels every year, yeah, yeah, 0:05:04.040 --> 0:05:07.400 that's how that's genuinely yes, it is. I think you 0:05:07.440 --> 0:05:11.680 can get it for also on computers still today. Yeah, 0:05:12.000 --> 0:05:16.559 you see primarily on consoles because you know, it seems 0:05:16.600 --> 0:05:18.600 like the game market, at least as far as I'm waring, 0:05:18.600 --> 0:05:21.280 I might be wrong here, but there's a huge portion 0:05:21.360 --> 0:05:23.960 of the game market that is console based, and they 0:05:24.000 --> 0:05:25.960 seem to go for that. I know there's people who 0:05:25.960 --> 0:05:28.279 play computer games. You are going to piss off the 0:05:28.320 --> 0:05:32.440 PC master Race here, man Master Race. I'm a Mac guy. 0:05:32.520 --> 0:05:40.320 They can't do anything Windows and Windows. Yeah, than it 0:05:40.400 --> 0:05:43.080 used to be there is. I mean, basically, a console 0:05:43.200 --> 0:05:48.080 is just a computer. Yeah, that's very dedicated to There 0:05:48.080 --> 0:05:50.760 are a ton of people who do game on PCs 0:05:50.760 --> 0:05:53.000 as well. And It's funny is that when I started 0:05:53.040 --> 0:05:55.760 doing the research for this, I was pretty sure that 0:05:55.839 --> 0:05:59.359 I had played John Madden Football when I was in 0:05:59.440 --> 0:06:02.480 junior high in high school when it first came out, 0:06:03.040 --> 0:06:05.320 But as I started looking at screen captures and stuff, 0:06:05.320 --> 0:06:07.840 I realized that, No, what it was is that I 0:06:07.920 --> 0:06:10.880 was over my buddy Joel's house with Rocky. We were 0:06:10.880 --> 0:06:14.960 playing tech Mobowl, so we were playing a completely different game. Yeah, 0:06:15.040 --> 0:06:19.400 you were, I played Madden sixty four like once, and 0:06:19.440 --> 0:06:24.920 then my brother Nintendo sixty Sorry, the naming conventions are 0:06:24.920 --> 0:06:27.000 going to get weird. And it's fine, I know all 0:06:27.080 --> 0:06:31.760 of the game, but yeah, he beat me really really 0:06:31.800 --> 0:06:33.440 badly the very first time I ever played it, and 0:06:33.520 --> 0:06:37.200 I was just like, I'm done with this. It's just ridiculous. 0:06:37.400 --> 0:06:39.440 I've never I've never played the game. Is that a 0:06:39.480 --> 0:06:43.520 first person game or what? Is it? Exactly? Yes and no. 0:06:43.720 --> 0:06:46.080 It really depends on the version. Sometimes you're the quarterback 0:06:46.080 --> 0:06:47.880 and you see what the quarterback is. Sometimes you're a 0:06:48.320 --> 0:06:55.359 field camera. It's and it's it's changed over time, really 0:06:55.440 --> 0:06:57.599 is the technologies evolved. So it's hard for me to 0:06:57.640 --> 0:07:01.440 say exactly what's the viewing perspect is God, and I 0:07:01.480 --> 0:07:04.200 haven't played on Yeah, the one we played it was 0:07:04.279 --> 0:07:06.520 like you basically picked your You're like, all right, we're 0:07:06.520 --> 0:07:08.640 gonna do this to this time, We're going to do 0:07:08.680 --> 0:07:11.760 this play this. Yeah. Well, and that was the big 0:07:11.760 --> 0:07:13.800 thing about so this is a weird thing. But that 0:07:13.840 --> 0:07:16.920 was what really helped put this particular game on the 0:07:16.960 --> 0:07:19.720 map is there was all kinds of games out there 0:07:19.720 --> 0:07:23.120 that were football games, but they all had made up 0:07:23.160 --> 0:07:26.000 teams because they didn't have endorsements, and John Madden Football 0:07:26.040 --> 0:07:27.720 would be the first one that would get the NFL 0:07:27.840 --> 0:07:30.880 National Football League endorsement. But the other thing that they 0:07:30.920 --> 0:07:34.000 had is from the very beginning, though it had a 0:07:34.040 --> 0:07:39.880 clunky user interface, it apparently had this really amazingly deep playbook. 0:07:40.320 --> 0:07:43.960 Let's say Tech Mobile had ten plays that you could 0:07:44.040 --> 0:07:49.600 run through a team. Madden was thirty forty fifty deep, 0:07:49.680 --> 0:07:51.200 and I don't know the number I'm making it, but 0:07:51.240 --> 0:07:54.320 it was. It was exponentially larger in the number of 0:07:54.360 --> 0:07:57.440 plays were available than any other game at the time. 0:07:57.640 --> 0:08:00.520 Madden was actually, from what I heard, really deeply involved 0:08:00.520 --> 0:08:03.280 in the creation of this game. Yeah, when I first 0:08:03.280 --> 0:08:05.080 heard about it, I just assumed that they paid him 0:08:05.080 --> 0:08:07.000 some money and he got his name, and they got 0:08:07.040 --> 0:08:08.600 his name and his picture to put on the game. 0:08:10.240 --> 0:08:12.040 That's what I would all think. It turns out he 0:08:12.120 --> 0:08:14.520 was actually pretty involved in it, and so he probably 0:08:14.560 --> 0:08:17.040 insisted on it being as you know, cool and realistic. 0:08:17.080 --> 0:08:19.680 And he did insist on realism, which is part of 0:08:19.680 --> 0:08:22.160 the reason that the playbook was as it was. And 0:08:22.200 --> 0:08:24.760 there was a two year delay because they they approached 0:08:24.840 --> 0:08:29.480 Madden in eighties six, I think it was five or 0:08:29.480 --> 0:08:32.920 eighty six with the game idea. It didn't come out 0:08:32.960 --> 0:08:37.160 until eight. I always loved the story because they got 0:08:37.200 --> 0:08:39.840 a hold of him while he was traveling somewhere on 0:08:39.920 --> 0:08:43.400 an amtrack train because apparently Madden was afraid to fly, 0:08:44.360 --> 0:08:46.840 so he would take the train everywhere, so they knew 0:08:46.880 --> 0:08:50.040 they had him as a captured audience for at least 0:08:50.080 --> 0:08:56.000 several hours of interesting. That's really smart. Yeah, I wonder 0:08:56.000 --> 0:08:57.800 if he's still if he still does that, or if 0:08:57.800 --> 0:09:00.640 he has no episode about the amtrack derail. I don't 0:09:01.880 --> 0:09:04.839 I actually do not know about Madden's travels anymore. I've 0:09:04.920 --> 0:09:07.720 Madden's been on the news for many years. He's now, 0:09:08.480 --> 0:09:11.480 I mean John Menn's would eighty one eighty two, he 0:09:11.559 --> 0:09:13.520 was well here, No, he's born in nineteen thirty six, 0:09:13.559 --> 0:09:17.240 so he's gonna be eighty two eighty three, somewhere right 0:09:17.280 --> 0:09:20.280 in that range. So he's been around for a while. 0:09:20.840 --> 0:09:23.400 Um speaking of Madden though, the reason that John Madden 0:09:23.880 --> 0:09:26.720 people know Madden. For those of you who don't know Madden, 0:09:27.600 --> 0:09:31.160 he was a football player who was an offensive tackle 0:09:31.240 --> 0:09:33.480 when he was in college, and he was drafted into 0:09:33.559 --> 0:09:35.960 the NFL, but he would never actually play in the 0:09:36.080 --> 0:09:40.600 NFL because in training camp that first year he suffered 0:09:40.640 --> 0:09:44.880 a knee injury that he couldn't overcome. Right, So then 0:09:44.960 --> 0:09:47.839 he turned around, he got into coaching, right, Yeah, he 0:09:47.880 --> 0:09:50.040 got into coaching. Turned around, he figured out he like coaching. 0:09:50.360 --> 0:09:54.960 He started coaching college ball in nineteen sixty and then 0:09:55.040 --> 0:09:59.200 he made the transition to professional football in nineteen sixty 0:09:59.200 --> 0:10:02.240 seven when he started coaching the Oakland Raiders. And he 0:10:02.280 --> 0:10:05.520 would coach the Raiders for a total of eleven seasons 0:10:06.200 --> 0:10:08.880 from nineteen sixty seven or no, I guess it was 0:10:08.960 --> 0:10:12.360 ten because it was nineteen sixties. Oh yeah, it was 0:10:12.360 --> 0:10:15.520 the nineteen sixty seven in ninety eight is when he 0:10:15.559 --> 0:10:18.360 was coaching there, and he was a pretty successful coach. 0:10:18.400 --> 0:10:20.760 I mean during that time, he got them into the 0:10:20.880 --> 0:10:24.720 playoffs multiple times. They would eventually win the Super Bowl 0:10:24.800 --> 0:10:28.240 in nineteen seventies seven, although they did kind of earn 0:10:28.280 --> 0:10:31.520 the moniker of the team that couldn't. They would get 0:10:31.559 --> 0:10:34.040 into the playoffs, they would get into the Super Bowl, 0:10:34.040 --> 0:10:40.079 but they couldn't actually win it. It was team is 0:10:40.520 --> 0:10:42.560 one of the Buffalo Bills used to be that way 0:10:42.600 --> 0:10:45.560 back in the nineties. They made it into the Super Bowl. 0:10:45.640 --> 0:10:47.120 I think it was three or four times in a 0:10:47.240 --> 0:10:49.680 row when I was a kid, and every time it 0:10:49.760 --> 0:10:51.720 was that was when I stopped. I could I couldn't 0:10:51.720 --> 0:10:54.280 watch football anymore because I was so excited they had 0:10:54.320 --> 0:10:57.320 made it again, and then they would just fail again 0:10:57.400 --> 0:10:59.240 and fail is a harsh way to say it, but 0:10:59.280 --> 0:11:01.360 they didn't win. And that's really what counts on the 0:11:01.360 --> 0:11:07.040 Super Bowl. It's life in general. Kids. Yeah, they don't 0:11:07.040 --> 0:11:09.280 have a they don't have a cut downside super Bowl ring. 0:11:09.880 --> 0:11:14.680 They don't. So we've we've covered some of this history here, 0:11:14.720 --> 0:11:17.480 but from there and on out of course, Mad after 0:11:17.520 --> 0:11:20.800 he retired, he'd become a sports commentator, and he would 0:11:20.800 --> 0:11:24.240 be a commentator for about thirty years. And I'm pretty 0:11:24.240 --> 0:11:28.240 sure that's where everybody these days really knows Mad because 0:11:28.240 --> 0:11:32.880 he's on Sunday, Saturday and Sunday Football talking about the teams. 0:11:32.880 --> 0:11:35.320 He's got that really a iconic voice. They either know 0:11:35.440 --> 0:11:37.400 him as a commentator or they know him because of 0:11:37.400 --> 0:11:40.000 the video games. One are the two? Yeah yea. Now 0:11:40.120 --> 0:11:42.320 and as we said in eighty six, I think I 0:11:42.360 --> 0:11:43.880 might have said it was eighty five, but in eighty 0:11:43.960 --> 0:11:47.480 six he was approached about this game idea and at 0:11:47.480 --> 0:11:50.200 the time it was electronics artists who approached him. They 0:11:50.200 --> 0:11:53.240 are now e A timer on and e A sports. 0:11:53.760 --> 0:11:56.480 Just it's it's e A. You if you know games, 0:11:56.520 --> 0:11:59.200 you know e A. Then you know if you know gas, 0:11:59.480 --> 0:12:01.600 you know, and you also know how I feel about 0:12:01.600 --> 0:12:03.120 e A. So I'm just not even gonna do not 0:12:03.280 --> 0:12:05.400 Like I don't know how she feels about it, but 0:12:05.440 --> 0:12:07.400 I don't care. We're gonna keep going because that's a 0:12:07.440 --> 0:12:10.240 warning sign right there. That's a do not interest, Like 0:12:10.280 --> 0:12:13.240 the porky Pine when they it means don't touch me, 0:12:13.320 --> 0:12:15.319 don't don't break this up, don't do it. Just keep 0:12:15.440 --> 0:12:19.000 I'm gonna keep moving on Porkypine that does a little 0:12:19.040 --> 0:12:25.080 dance yeah from the skunk Um. Okay. So, like I said, 0:12:25.120 --> 0:12:28.480 the first version of the game comes out, and then 0:12:28.880 --> 0:12:32.720 each time that it comes out, John Madden is featured 0:12:33.120 --> 0:12:36.440 on the cover of the game in some pose or 0:12:36.800 --> 0:12:39.640 you know, the photo of a football or looking like 0:12:39.679 --> 0:12:42.640 he's pointing at something, but what's just wearing a sexy 0:12:42.720 --> 0:12:45.240 little teddy or maybe posing in front of a Christmas tree. 0:12:45.559 --> 0:12:48.920 That was not that one. Those were all rejected ideas, 0:12:49.280 --> 0:12:52.080 which is why you didn't stay at electronic arts for 0:12:52.200 --> 0:12:55.400 very long. You kept coming up with these great ideas 0:12:55.400 --> 0:13:01.120 that why not guys. Yeah, but the game would begin 0:13:01.320 --> 0:13:05.480 to integrate players on the covers. The first time that 0:13:05.520 --> 0:13:13.560 it would happen would be for Madden NFL, and then um, 0:13:13.600 --> 0:13:15.880 from then on out, it seemed like they're typically would 0:13:15.880 --> 0:13:18.400 be at least one player, though in the beginning that 0:13:18.440 --> 0:13:21.760 player wasn't the prominent person. It was still John Madden 0:13:22.440 --> 0:13:26.000 was screened back or knocked back image of some player 0:13:26.040 --> 0:13:28.080 in a game in the background, and it was some 0:13:28.600 --> 0:13:32.640 high performing player, but they weren't the main focus of 0:13:32.679 --> 0:13:37.160 the cover. Yeah. Now, I will real quick here just 0:13:37.320 --> 0:13:41.040 explain something about the way the nomenclatier or the description 0:13:41.080 --> 0:13:45.720 of dates and names is done, can be a bit confusing. 0:13:45.720 --> 0:13:47.559 I just want to get break this down for folks. 0:13:47.800 --> 0:13:51.040 Because football has the regular season, which is normally September 0:13:51.120 --> 0:13:54.200 ish to December, and then the postseason, which is of 0:13:54.200 --> 0:13:56.959 course the finals, and then the football or the football 0:13:56.960 --> 0:14:01.080 the Super Bowl, and of course the beginning the year 0:14:01.240 --> 0:14:04.080 that the regular season happened is typically what you'll see 0:14:04.120 --> 0:14:08.200 that season referred to in terms of the numbers. Soeen 0:14:08.520 --> 0:14:12.120 just passed and then we had the Super Bowl and teen. 0:14:12.160 --> 0:14:17.439 But that's still considered the seventeen season. Okay, but Madden 0:14:17.760 --> 0:14:23.280 NFL the game always uses the upcoming year's number, So 0:14:23.760 --> 0:14:30.240 in seventeen they released Madden NFL eighteen. So it's kind 0:14:30.240 --> 0:14:34.240 of car years they jump ahead, so it can get 0:14:34.400 --> 0:14:37.320 in an effort to stay relevant longer. I yes, I 0:14:37.320 --> 0:14:40.400 don't know. It can It can get a little kookie 0:14:40.480 --> 0:14:42.040 or a little hard to follow if you're if you 0:14:42.080 --> 0:14:44.000 don't think about that. So that's the reason I bring 0:14:44.000 --> 0:14:46.280 it up. And I was the first one I looked 0:14:46.280 --> 0:14:48.400 into it. I was a little confused to Yeah, I 0:14:48.520 --> 0:14:51.280 was too. I was like, well, that doesn't make but yeah, 0:14:51.160 --> 0:14:53.760 oh wait until wait, it gets better. There are years 0:14:53.760 --> 0:14:56.440 that they change the numbers and it doesn't make a 0:14:56.560 --> 0:14:58.960 lick of sense, and that's when it's even better. Well 0:14:59.000 --> 0:15:06.160 like like Madden's sixty four. Yeah, what what the deuce? 0:15:06.680 --> 0:15:08.920 Come on, guys, cut it out. There was Madden two 0:15:08.960 --> 0:15:12.440 thousand six, and now after it changed to a two 0:15:12.480 --> 0:15:16.040 digit number, you know. Yeah, yeah, it's it's not it's 0:15:16.080 --> 0:15:18.920 not consistent. Um, but let's let's okay. So that's that's 0:15:18.960 --> 0:15:21.240 the backstory. That's all you need to know there. Let's 0:15:21.280 --> 0:15:24.680 get down into the nitty gritty bits of the curse itself. 0:15:25.520 --> 0:15:27.600 As I said before, there were about eight editions of 0:15:27.680 --> 0:15:30.680 the game with just Madden, and then after they started 0:15:30.680 --> 0:15:33.960 showing players. But of course in those first couple of years, 0:15:33.960 --> 0:15:39.480 those players seemed to not suffer any ill effects. It 0:15:39.560 --> 0:15:45.280 wasn't until Madden ninety nine that problems began to erode 0:15:45.680 --> 0:15:50.640 to arise. That was the year that the PAL version 0:15:50.680 --> 0:15:53.080 of the game, the p A L which that's the 0:15:53.080 --> 0:15:55.200 the oh, it's the version of the game that has 0:15:55.240 --> 0:15:58.800 meant for Asia, Europe and Australia because they use a 0:15:58.800 --> 0:16:02.240 different encoding method on video that we do here, which 0:16:02.280 --> 0:16:06.760 is nt s something I can't remember what the full 0:16:06.840 --> 0:16:09.680 acronym is, so they have to release different versions in 0:16:09.720 --> 0:16:14.040 different countries. So they released this one overseas and this 0:16:14.120 --> 0:16:18.920 one in Madden n In the States it's still John Madden, 0:16:19.040 --> 0:16:22.000 but over there it's Garrison Hurst of the San Francisco 0:16:22.080 --> 0:16:25.360 forty Niners. And then the next year that they would 0:16:25.400 --> 0:16:28.560 do the same thing. They would release a version of 0:16:28.560 --> 0:16:31.760 the game with Barry Sanders from the Detroit Lions for 0:16:31.960 --> 0:16:35.520 the two thousand version. And I'm not sure if that 0:16:35.600 --> 0:16:37.640 was the PAL version or if they did it all 0:16:37.680 --> 0:16:39.560 over that way. I think it was still pal at 0:16:39.600 --> 0:16:43.640 that point. And then from that point forward, John Madden 0:16:43.720 --> 0:16:46.480 is no longer on the cover. It is all star players. 0:16:47.640 --> 0:16:51.560 And right away people would say that there was problems 0:16:51.600 --> 0:16:54.680 once it was just a player on the cover. Uh. 0:16:54.960 --> 0:16:58.480 For example, the NFL ninety nine or Madden NFL ninety 0:16:58.560 --> 0:17:02.520 nine with Garrison Hurst that he's considered the first victim 0:17:02.600 --> 0:17:06.479 because that year he would twist his ankle in the 0:17:06.520 --> 0:17:10.600 playoffs and he would miss the following two seasons. And 0:17:10.640 --> 0:17:13.400 then from there on out and all that time forward, 0:17:14.000 --> 0:17:19.000 tons and tons of these guys have suffered luck. And 0:17:19.359 --> 0:17:21.639 you know, it's actually recent point so many football fans 0:17:21.680 --> 0:17:24.600 believe in in this that like when the nominations for 0:17:24.640 --> 0:17:27.000 the the upcoming cover are the people will actually not 0:17:27.119 --> 0:17:30.800 vote for their favorite player. Yeah and get that, Yeah 0:17:31.080 --> 0:17:33.680 when the when the theory section. Yeah, So it's been 0:17:33.760 --> 0:17:38.800 like nineteen years of disaster. Basically, not every player seems 0:17:38.840 --> 0:17:43.040 to have suffered the effects, but quite a freaking few 0:17:43.119 --> 0:17:47.639 of them happen as anybody sued, Not nobody's sued, but 0:17:47.720 --> 0:17:50.399 a couple of people have have really ducked out of 0:17:50.440 --> 0:17:54.240 the nomination. And we'll talk about that I'm gonna go 0:17:54.240 --> 0:17:56.480 I'm gonna run through about a dozen players here, because 0:17:56.480 --> 0:17:58.800 I just this is the best way to illustrate the curse. 0:17:58.880 --> 0:18:02.479 And that's a bad st You can just to a 0:18:02.560 --> 0:18:09.480 dozen NFL players, yeah, because I'm I mean, that's not 0:18:09.560 --> 0:18:12.800 the way it works. Okay, So I'm just gonna start 0:18:12.880 --> 0:18:17.040 with NF Madden NFL two thousand. That was Barry Sanders 0:18:17.040 --> 0:18:22.479 of the Detroit Lions. The problem was, Sanders retired just 0:18:22.680 --> 0:18:26.880 before the start of the nine season. He got some injuries, 0:18:26.960 --> 0:18:29.960 right well, he had been injured, yes, and he decided 0:18:30.000 --> 0:18:32.520 he was he wasn't going to start the season, and 0:18:32.560 --> 0:18:34.480 of course they don't released the game, so they were 0:18:34.600 --> 0:18:37.080 kind of in a bind there. So that was a 0:18:37.160 --> 0:18:40.280 negative thing for the Lions because they lost their star 0:18:40.359 --> 0:18:44.760 because Barry Sanders was a badass. They of course, now 0:18:45.000 --> 0:18:48.679 they turned and they've got the POW version, and in 0:18:48.920 --> 0:18:52.919 Madden NFL two thousand POW version, they had Dorsey Levins 0:18:52.920 --> 0:18:57.000 of the Green Bay Packers. He would have a decent year. 0:18:57.080 --> 0:19:00.119 He'd run for a thousand thirty four yards that's HEAs 0:19:00.119 --> 0:19:03.320 and which is good, but his team they'd missed the 0:19:03.359 --> 0:19:08.320 playoffs and then from that year forward, his performance and 0:19:08.480 --> 0:19:12.000 his role in the team would decline. Uh, and they 0:19:12.040 --> 0:19:14.760 would let him go in two thousand one. So not 0:19:14.880 --> 0:19:18.200 but two years after the team lets him. Not good 0:19:18.200 --> 0:19:20.600 about a year and a half later. Yeah, Matt And 0:19:20.760 --> 0:19:24.000 NFL two thousand one, Eddie George of the Tennessee Titans. 0:19:24.680 --> 0:19:29.840 The Titans would lose the divisional round of the playoffs. 0:19:29.880 --> 0:19:32.520 That that junction of the two thousand two thousand one years. 0:19:32.520 --> 0:19:35.760 The two thousand season. Uh, they had made it to 0:19:35.840 --> 0:19:39.080 the super Bowl the the year before, so that was 0:19:39.160 --> 0:19:43.760 kind of a shock. And George's performance and his numbers 0:19:43.800 --> 0:19:47.000 would start to decline and he would be let go 0:19:47.119 --> 0:19:50.679 from the Titans. In two thousand three, he would go 0:19:50.720 --> 0:19:52.800 over the Cowboys. But he's only at the Cowboys for 0:19:52.840 --> 0:19:55.640 a season before. They said, yeah, no, we're done as well, 0:19:55.880 --> 0:19:58.680 and he just rehired. So I believe he just retired. 0:19:58.760 --> 0:20:05.320 He so lucky they get to retire. So yeah, lating 0:20:05.440 --> 0:20:10.760 bodily injury at all, brand damage whatsoever. No Madden. NFL 0:20:10.880 --> 0:20:15.119 two thousand two. Dwayne Culpepper the Minnesota Vikings. He had 0:20:15.320 --> 0:20:19.280 a atrocious season. He would throw He's a quarterback. He 0:20:19.359 --> 0:20:23.200 throw twenty three interceptions and he would tie the NFL 0:20:23.320 --> 0:20:26.879 record for most fumbles in a season, which is not 0:20:27.040 --> 0:20:31.360 a record you want to tie or are not familiar. 0:20:31.600 --> 0:20:34.239 If you're the quarterback and you're throwing interceptions, that's not 0:20:34.320 --> 0:20:40.760 a good thing. No, receptions are good things. Interceptions are bad. Yes, 0:20:41.440 --> 0:20:45.520 the Vikings would finish five wins or uh yeah, five 0:20:45.560 --> 0:20:48.640 wins eleven losses for that season, and then Culpepper would 0:20:48.680 --> 0:20:52.639 blow out his knees in two thousand five. And also 0:20:52.880 --> 0:20:56.240 there was a thing known as the Minnesota Vikings boat 0:20:56.280 --> 0:21:00.280 party scandal, which was house boats with lots and of 0:21:00.359 --> 0:21:04.000 ladies and sex and football players. And you can see 0:21:04.040 --> 0:21:07.359 how this would turn into a giant scandal. They flew 0:21:07.760 --> 0:21:10.960 ladies in from out of state. That's as far as 0:21:11.000 --> 0:21:14.400 we're gonna go with it. But his numbers would continue 0:21:14.440 --> 0:21:17.520 to decline. I mean, I think he was I think 0:21:17.520 --> 0:21:19.320 a two thousand eight might have been his last year, 0:21:19.359 --> 0:21:21.200 but I don't remember. I don't have that written down, 0:21:21.240 --> 0:21:24.359 and looking at other notes here, he oh, that's what 0:21:24.440 --> 0:21:28.880 he did in two thousand eight. God, he really good. Yeah, 0:21:28.920 --> 0:21:33.280 the Lions. He would be the quarterback for the only 0:21:33.320 --> 0:21:37.919 team in NFL history to lose every single game in 0:21:38.040 --> 0:21:42.680 the season. So zero for sixteen. That's uh, that's how 0:21:42.720 --> 0:21:47.440 far the Mighty have fallen. Wow, yeah the game bam well, 0:21:47.480 --> 0:21:49.840 and we're just gonna go from one fall into another. 0:21:52.600 --> 0:21:57.280 Michael Vick, people know Atlanta Falcons. He would break his 0:21:57.760 --> 0:22:02.480 phibia in the preseason game of two thousand and four 0:22:02.800 --> 0:22:05.919 or two thousand three excuse me season, So you know, 0:22:06.119 --> 0:22:08.560 he actually went on the cover and then like like 0:22:08.600 --> 0:22:12.159 a week later he broke his legs like that. It 0:22:12.240 --> 0:22:16.240 was super close. The Falcons would end up with five 0:22:16.520 --> 0:22:19.080 and eleven that year. But the problem is that most 0:22:19.119 --> 0:22:22.399 people know Vic would then later be found to be 0:22:22.480 --> 0:22:27.160 running a dogfighting ring. Vic went to prison. He can 0:22:27.240 --> 0:22:31.120 never play ball again. He they just booted him out 0:22:31.720 --> 0:22:35.560 so hard and understandably just don't like that kind of thing, 0:22:35.600 --> 0:22:39.399 you know, really didn't. It sounds like there's a like 0:22:39.440 --> 0:22:45.680 a three year gap here. Basically at least we've said, well, 0:22:45.760 --> 0:22:48.520 the really really awful thing happens like three years later 0:22:48.640 --> 0:22:51.960 about yeah, almost all of these, you know, three years later, 0:22:52.000 --> 0:22:54.480 they're like, go, three years later, they blew up both 0:22:54.520 --> 0:22:58.199 their knees. Three years later, got convicted of being an 0:23:00.720 --> 0:23:07.320 I'm going because I agree, let's keep going here. Madden 0:23:07.480 --> 0:23:12.240 NFL OH six would feature Donovan McNabb of the Philadelphia Eagles. 0:23:12.800 --> 0:23:16.480 He would be injured and put on the reserve list. 0:23:16.560 --> 0:23:20.199 He heard his ground. He also was in a dispute 0:23:20.200 --> 0:23:23.040 with another player on the team. This was all off 0:23:23.080 --> 0:23:25.600 off field, of course, so there was all kinds of 0:23:25.640 --> 0:23:31.560 tension in the squad and it was terrible. Yeah, okay, uh. 0:23:31.640 --> 0:23:34.960 And so they would end with a six of ten 0:23:35.400 --> 0:23:38.000 record that year, and they had been to the super 0:23:38.040 --> 0:23:42.359 Bowl the year before as well. Madden NFL OH seven 0:23:42.400 --> 0:23:46.440