Browns players think discussion of the Madden NFL '12 video-game cover curse is hogwash. But with Hillis missing games because of strep throat and a strained left hamstring, and add in a contract squabble, it is disconcerting ... isn't it?
View full sizePeyton Hillis isn't buying into the "Madden" curse, but things certainly haven't gone that well after his appearance on the cover of the video game.That there is truly such a thing as the "Madden Curse."
"I'm not even worried about that," Hillis scoffed earlier this week.
Joshua Cribbs looked as if he had just whiffed a nose full of manure when the suggestion was floated that Hillis' photo on the front of Madden NFL 12 might have anything to do with anything going on with the 3-3 Browns.
"Curse? I don't believe in curses," Cribbs scoffed.
Even Kathy Curran, a priestess and the owner of Lakewood's Goddess Blessed, doesn't believe in curses -- even if she knows the remedy for banishing them.
No one believes in the Madden Curse, least of all the reigning cover boy, Hillis. His Browns teammates think it's a bunch of hogwash.
Even the people who produce the game at EA Sports are quick to discount the superstitious suggestion that nearly every player who has appeared on the cover of the Madden video game has been befallen by either substantial injury or failure the following season.
But how else can you explain it? How do you explain that in six Browns games this season, Hillis has already missed one game because of strep throat, a full game and half of another with a strained left hamstring, and reaggravated his injury after returning to practice this week so that his status for Sunday's contest in San Francisco is in doubt?
How do you explain how the monstrously tough runner who likes to pull pickup trucks as part of his off-season training program is averaging only 3.5 yards per carry and a total of 211 yards this season -- directly after his breakout 1,177 yards for 4.4 yards per carry a year ago?
What other explanation is there for the fact that Hillis and the Browns cannot agree on the terms of a contract extension, that he controversially relied on his agent's medical advice to skip a game and that the running back has suddenly become quiet and serious around media this season?
Cribbs, for one, has a fairly simple explanation for it all.
"Every time you have a breakout year, the next year, everybody keys you," he said. "Everybody is expecting you to have that same year or better. Everybody's keying you now. You're not going to do as good when everybody's looking for you. Last year, ain't nobody worried about stopping Peyton. They didn't know who he was until after a couple games. You can't expect a guy to do it when everybody's looking for him to."
Still, the fear of the curse was enough to drive Green Bay Packers fans to crusade to ensure their quarterback, Aaron Rodgers, didn't appear on the cover of the game. Though Rodgers, who led the Packers to victory in the 2011 Super Bowl, was the top seed in a fan vote deciding the cover, Hillis beat him handily when they were matched head-to-head.
"They don't want to mess with it," said Anthony Stevenson, EA Sports' senior product manager. "Whether we believe in it or not, some fans do believe in the curse. There [were] literally Packer forums saying, 'Vote against Aaron.' Then you've got all the Cleveland fans saying if the Cleveland Browns are cursed and Peyton's cursed, two negatives make a positive."
The history of the Madden Curse goes back more than a decade, when the first cover boy, Barry Sanders, abruptly retired during training camp.
Michael Vick suffered a broken leg the day after the video game was released with his mug on the cover. Steelers safety Troy Polamalu missed all but five games after he shared the cover with Arizona receiver Larry Fitzgerald -- who, admittedly, had a career year. Even Brett Favre, who supposedly was retired and immune from the curse when he appeared on the cover in 2008, opted to return to the league, was traded to the New York Jets and led his team to implosion in the final games of the season.
Curran, the local priestess, isn't a believer in curses, either. But she acknowledged that if enough people believe in something, it can manifest itself as true.
"Sometimes, it is karmic liability," Curran said. "I believe in self-responsibility. But if enough people believe in something, it can be true to them."
Her advice for removing the curse? Burn a black candle, sit in quiet meditation and transfer all negativity to the candle.
Though Hillis chuckled at that suggestion earlier this week, Curran said the recipient of the curse doesn't have to be the one to burn the candle.
Browns fans can help remove the curse, independently, with their own black-candle ceremonies.
Hillis, who was married earlier this week, often refers to his faith in interviews and again resurrected his common recitation about what has happened to him this season.
And it has nothing to do with the Madden Curse.
"The Lord puts you through things for a reason, and it all works out for a purpose," he said. "No matter what happens, you've got to keep a positive mindset. From here on out, you just gotta take it and roll with the punches."
And hope that, somehow, the curse lifts for the remainder of the season.
To reach this Plain Dealer reporter: jvalade@plaind.com, 216-999-4654
Source: http://www.cleveland.com/browns/index.ssf/2011/10/talk_of_a_curse_is_madden-ing.html
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