Asuka
April 8, 2025, 11:55pm
1
We all heard of the Madden Curse, but I’m curious who is the worst athlete to grace the cover of a video game, either stats-wise or morally?
(Note, I’m speaking of sports games with a professional athlete as the cover athlete or mascot, so anything similar to the Madden NFL cover athlete, NBA 2K, MLB The Show, NFL Blitz etc. I know people like OJ Simpson were in football games but they weren’t on the cover, nor some weird runabout like I know someone will pull with the fact there’s a Donald Trump business video game and “Donald Trump was in the WWE Hall Of Fame so he counts”, because he doesn’t)
Antonio Brown (Steelers) was a pretty lousy choice for Madden19.
Peyton Hillis (Browns) was a strange choice for Madden12. He wasn’t bad, but hardly a household name.
ISTR that EA held a fan vote to help select the cover player that year, and Browns fans stuffed the ballot box for Hillis.
Rui Hachimura, the first NBA player from Japan to be drafted in the first round, made the 2K cover in his home country.
That was the first one to come to mind.
Not really interested in debating who the worst human is. It’s a long and diverse list I’m sure.
If we’re going to include regional selections we probably need to grade them accordingly. Hachimura is pretty easily the best Japanese NBA player so I don’t think he warrants consideration since comparing him to the entire domain of NBA players is apples and oranges.
Is that Alexi god-damned Lallas? That dickhead got his own game!
(I was about to suggest him)
Dog fighter and repugnant human being Michael Vick was on the cover of Madden 2004 .
David Leadbetter:
I don’t know if that’s literally a picture of him (probably not), but he’s certainly the game mascot.
As best I can tell, he never won any kind of major championship as a player. Mostly known for being an instructor.
If you really demand a picture, he also appeared on a Wii golf game:
My golf knowledge isn’t the best, but Peter Jacobsen probably falls into the same bucket. No idea how he and Leadbetter compare.
Peter Jacobsen's Golden Tee 3D Golf is a video game developed and published by Incredible Technologies for the arcade. It was later ported to PlayStation and Windows. It is based on the popularity of golfer Peter Jacobsen.
Peter Jacobsen's Golden Tee 3D Golf is a golf game featuring a trackball, and three 18-hole golf courses. The game allows for up to 4 players at a time, and in the case of 2 players of more, allows you to play Stroke Play or Skins mode. These games always have 3 different cour...
It’s a bit difficult to compare a “signature” game against a revolving list of star players being featured on the cover to promote the game.
If you really want to bend the rules, John Madden was a practice squad player in the NFL for one season.
Madden NFL (known as John Madden Football until 1993) is an American football sports video game series developed by EA Orlando for EA Sports. The franchise, named after Pro Football Hall of Fame coach and commentator John Madden, has sold more than 130 million copies as of 2018. From 2004 until 2022, it was the only officially licensed National Football League (NFL) video game series, and has influenced many players and coaches of the physical sport. Among the series' features are detailed pla El...
John Earl Madden (April 10, 1936 – December 28, 2021) was an American professional football coach and sports commentator in the National Football League (NFL). He served as the head coach of the Oakland Raiders from 1969 to 1978, leading them to eight playoff appearances, seven division titles, seven AFL/AFC Championship Game appearances, and the franchise's first Super Bowl title in Super Bowl XI. Never having a losing season, Madden holds the highest winning percentage among NFL head coaches ...
Asuka
April 9, 2025, 5:28pm
11
Just found this out
The cover athlete of NFL Blitz 2012 is literally Ray Rice, talk about the Madden Curse!
NFL Blitz 2012
