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Sportsbook.com has said it may begin offering betting odds once again on the Madden Curse. The decision follows news that Madden NFL 10 coverboy Troy Polamalu will be out for up to 6 weeks following an injury Thursday night.
"There is still Larry Fitzgerald," commented Dave Stanley of Sportsbook.com Sunday night, referring to Fitzgerald sharing the cover with Polamalu. "We may also offer odds on what week Polamalu returns."
Sportsbook.com had been offering odds on the Madden Curse rearing its ugly head once again this summer.
The Madden Curse relates to players who appear on the cover of the popular Madden NFL video game who always seem to find themselves getting injured or having some other crisis.
Michael Vick appeared on the cover of Madden NFL 2004, and suffered a leg injury that sidelined him for most of the 2003 season. Donovan McNabb was featured on the cover of Madden 06, on November 19th, 2006 in a game against Tennessee, McNabb tore his ACL while attempting to scramble out of bounds which left him sidelined for the remainder of the season. Running back Shaun Alexander, then the league's reigning Most Valuable Player, was featured on the cover of Madden NFL 2007, and sustained a foot injury that caused him to miss six starts. As a result, Alexander's rushing statistics were substantially less than those from the previous season, and he never returned to true form Madden 08's cover featured Vince Young, the starting quarterback of the Tennessee Titans. On September 7th 2008 Vince Young sustained a knee injury which put him out of the game. He has not yet regained his starting quarterback position since he was relieved by backup quarterback Kerry Collins.
Brett Favre appeared on the cover last season and seemed at first to have "broken the curse" until he recently announced playing injured towards the end of the year. His Jets became unraveled.
The curse appears to have started in 2002 with consecutive injuries thereafter. Eddie George, who first appeared on the cover in 2001 did not sustain any injury.
Larry Fitzgerald managed to avoid injury during Week 1's home loss against the San Francisco 49er's.
Carrie Stroup, Gambling911.com Senior Reporter
