To borrow a line from Red Sox great Pedro Martinez, “I don’t believe in damn curses!”

And in all seriousness, I really don’t. Believing in some kind of hocus pocus like the infamous “Madden Curse” is on the same level of believing in goblins, fairies, Bigfoot and La Chupacabra.

But now, with the reports that Madden will feature TWO star players on the cover for the first time ever, the discussion of the curse is now more prevalent than ever.

Simply put, curses do not exist. But the Madden Curse is still an intriguing string of coincidences in which the cover star of the famed EA Sports franchise suffers some kind of trouble or trauma during the same season.

Eddie George was the original cursed star of Madden, when even though he had his best statistical season in 2000, he ended up bobbling a play at the end of the Titans’ divisional round game, which they lost.

George was never the same again.

Daunte Culpepper fell victim to the curse in 2001, as he stumbled to a 4-7 record with the Vikings before sustaining a season-ending knee injury.

Marshall Faulk dealt with injuries throughout his year on the cover (2002), and never recovered.

Michael Vick fractured his right fibula one day after Madden 2004 was released with his mug on the cover. Four years later, he would become one of the most infamous athletes in history.

Ray Lewis was not as unfortunate as other cover boys, but he did miss the final game of the 2004 season, which the Ravens lost, leaving them out of the playoffs that season.

Donovan McNabb, the 2006 cover boy, suffered a sports hernia in the first game of the 2005 season, and never recovered that season.

Shaun Alexander graced the cover in 2007, but suffered a broken foot during the concurrent season and miss six games.

Vince Young, the 2008 cover boy, missed a game with an injury for the first time in his football career, then ended up losing his job in 2008.

As for the cover boy of this season, Brett Favre? His Jets lost four of their last five games, mostly due to his sloppy and inconsistent play, and missed the playoffs.

Even through all these, I still don’t believe in the curse. I try not to believe in any kind of superstitious nonsense. The cases for Lewis and Young’s curses are stretches. It seems like one of the new 2010 cover stars will sit out a quarter and that will be the excuse for them being cursed.

I wish someone would just put together an MVP season while on the cover so they can put this silly “curse” to rest altogether.

So what does the 2009 season have in store for the Madden 2010 cover boys, Larry Fitzgerald and Troy Polamalu? Time will tell. But if something bad happens to both of these bona fide stars, I honestly might become a believer. A double-curse would be too eerie to not at least consider it.

Fitzgerald spoke with ESPN today as the story broke.

 

The Arizona Cardinals may have finally shed their “joke team” label this past season, as they rode Kurt Warner and Larry Fitzgerald all the way to an appearance in the Super Bowl. And they would have won it all had it not been for Ben Roethlisberger’s great final drive.

They made their way to prominence mainly via Warner’s MVP-caliber season, but their success was also due in no small part to the new coaching staff led by Ken Whisenhunt that had been installed.

But the subject of today’s Great Moment in Press Conference History is not Whisenhunt, but Dennis Green, who was Arizona’s last coach. He was ousted following the 2006 season, the one in which he delivered his most memorable moment as a coach.

Green coached the Cardinals to a 16-32 record in three years after starting his career in up-and-down fashion as the Minnesota Vikings’ head coach. He compiled a 4-8 postseason record in his career, and that did not include any Super Bowl appearances, so like other coaches in this series, he experienced his most memorable moment after a game.

In 2006, the Cardinals were still very much a laughingstock, dealing with a quarterback controversy and stumbling once again out of the gate. They arrived in Chicago with a 1-4 record to face a Bears team that at the time had the stingiest defense in the NFL. They’d allowed just 38 points through five games and were sitting pretty at 5-0.

But apparently, Green still thought very little of this Bears team.

Whatever gameplan Green had installed, it worked wonders for the first three quarters. Chicago ended up with just 168 yards of total offense, and Bears QB Rex Grossman threw four interceptions and lost two fumbles. The Cardinals held a 20-0 lead at halftime.

So how exactly did they screw this one up? After exchanging field goals, it started with a Matt Leinart fumble on the three-yard line, which Bears safety Mike Brown recovered and took into the endzone to make it 23-10.

Edgerrin James committed another Cardinals fumble with just five minutes remaining, resulting in another touchdown run for the Bears defense.

Chicago’s punt return extraordinaire Devin Hester put the icing on the comeback cake with 2:58 remaining in the game when he took it 83 yards to the house for the Bears, who took a 24-23 lead.

What many people may forget about this game is that the Cardinals had a golden opportunity to take the game back from the Bears on their final drive. Kicker Neil Rackers was set up from a deep yet very makeable 40 yards, but the kick sailed wide right to seal the amazing deal for the home team.

Green was furious after his team blew the 20-point lead and let the game slip away, especially considering it was in such sloppy fashion. We’ll never know exactly what he and the Cardinals thought the Bears were, but it’s apparent that he didn’t think they were very good.

As if to prove Green wrong, the Bears ended up in the Super Bowl that season.

In the heat of the moment, Green delivered a classic press conference moment. Not much else needs to be said here, so just enjoy the video!