The superstitious among the Who Dat Nation are issuing a collective groan today after Super Bowl MVP New Orleans Saints quarterback Drew Brees was named cover boy for EA Sports’ Madden 11 NFL video game. The cause of their apprehension: the Madden Curse.
Since 1999, when EA Sports began putting images of superlative players on the video game’s cover instead of a picture of John Madden, a majority of those players featured on the cover underwent either a season-affecting injury or experienced a significant decline in their careers.
1999 - Running back Garrison Hearst appears on the Madden cover and fades from the NFL spotlight. 2002 - Quarterback Duante Culpepper sets the NFL record for fumbles, throws 23 interceptions and leads the Minnesota Vikings to a 5-11 record. 2003 - Running back Marshall Faulk begins the performance decline that ends with his 2005 retirement. 2005 - Linebacker Ray Lewis breaks his wrist in week 15 and also records his first season without an interception. 2006 - Quarterback Donovan McNabb blows out a knee and ends season early. 2007 - Running back Shaun Alexander misses six starts with a foot injury. 2008 - Quarterback Vince Young hurts his knee in game 1, is replaced by back-up Kerry Collins, and never regains the starting job during the 2008 season. 2009 - Quarterback Brett Favre admits after the season that a nagging torn biceps injury hampered his performance as the Jets slumped in the last third of the season. 2010 - Safety Troy Polumalu, who shared the cover with wide receiver Larry Fitzgerald, misses half the season with separate knee injuries.
Unlike years past when EA executives chose the cover model, this year fans voted for their choice. For more on Brees' selection, read the story at ESPN's Web site.
There will soon be a whole lot of shakin’ going on at Benny’s Sportshack Supplement Depot, a new concept by Opelousas native Benny Nele. Located at 2002 Johnston St., the supplement shop, smoothie bar and café, featuring hot off the press paninis and wraps, plans to open in late May.
Philip deMahy Sr., a once respected New Iberia ad exec, was sentenced May 2 to spend the next two years (he faced up to 100 years) in a state penitentiary after state and federal investigators found dozens of images depicting children engaged in lewd sexual acts on his personal computer.
This year’s Cool Town issue is all about people who are not native to South Louisiana but made a conscious decision to be here, to be among us, to participate in our culture and contribute to it.
A shelved ordinance transferring $200,000 from a northside drainage project to a south Lafayette development may not break any laws, but it stinks to high heaven.
An effort to restore a shuttered dancehall and document other vacant or razed honky-tonks could serve as a model for saving an endangered species of entertainment.
Lafayette’s gene pool has been host to a long line of eccentric characters who have blurred the lines between crazy, genius, disturbed and curiously entertaining.
The superstitious among the Who Dat Nation are issuing a collective groan today after Super Bowl MVP New Orleans Saints quarterback Drew Brees was named cover boy for EA Sports’ Madden 11 NFL video game. The cause of their apprehension: the Madden Curse.
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