How John Madden ruins careers

Cardinals receiver Larry Fitzgerald and Steelers defensive back Troy Polamalu will be on the cover of this year's Madden video game. And while it might be inconceivable to think their careers are anywhere near finished, the Madden cover jinx never fails to rear its ugly head. The evidence is overwhelming:

Start with 49ers running back Garrison Hearst in 1999. He ran for more than 1,500 yards in 1998 and led the Niners deep into the playoffs. But he suffered a bad ankle injury the following season and his career went down the tubes from there.

In 2000, it was Green Bay running back Dorsey Levens. Actually, how did this even happen? Dorsey Levens? Really? I don’t think this was so much of the Madden jinx as it was inevitable.

Eddie George in 2001. A year after he led the Titans to the Super Bowl, losing to the Rams, the running back had one of his best seasons. He led the league in attempts and rushed for 1,509 yards, but it proved to be the beginning of the end. He was out of the league by the end of 2004.

Daunte Culpepper in 2002. Enough said.

Marshall Faulk in 2003. Soon after he appeared on the cover, Faulk, coming off a big year in 2001, rushed for just 953 yards in 14 games. Like George, it signaled the beginning of the end.

Michael Vick in 2004. Like Culpepper, enough said.

Ray Lewis in 2005 and Donovan McNabb in 2006. The Madden jinx didn’t ruin the career of either player, but it certainly ruined their respective seasons. Lewis played in 15 games, suffering a broken arm late in the season as the Ravens missed the playoffs. McNabb played in nine games the year after bringing the Eagles to the Super Bowl and went just 4-5 as a starter.

Shaun Alexander in 2007 and Vince Young in 2008. Spot on!

So while it may seem that Fitzgerald and Polamalu are at the top of their games, never question the Madden jinx.

Let's Rumble

Pick an all-time great sporting event that you would have liked to have seen in person.

The “Rumble in the Jungle” probably would be high on a lot of lists. Longtime tennis announcer and sportswriter Bud Collins wouldn’t have to put the 1974 heavyweight fight between George Foreman and Muhammad Ali on his list. He was there.

And he has the pants to prove it.

Included in Collins’ arsenal of unique pants that Charlie Davidson, owner of The Andover Shop, has made for Collins, is a pair depicting each of the legendary fighters.

“We try to get material from the various places that we go,” Collins said last week while he was in Newport shooting some material for the Tennis Channel. “I had covered the ‘Rumble in the Jungle,’ and they had material on sale in Kinshasa (Zaire) with pictures of Ali and pictures of Foreman.

“So I took the cloth to Charlie and said, ‘Can you deal with this, so we can get one head (on one leg) and one head (on the other)?’ He said, ‘Sure, we can.’”

But it took a while for Davidson to finish the pants.

“He got tied up with something and forgot all about it,” Collins said. “I was doing the tournament here on television — it must have been about 1980 — and all of a sudden, I see Charlie running up the stairs.

“We’re on the air, and he says, ‘I’ve got the pants! I’ve got the pants!’ I said, ‘What is he talking about?’ I’d forgotten about them, too.”

Apparently, they were worth interrupting a TV broadcast.

“He had these beautiful pants,” Collins said. “I tried to tell the stage manager, ‘Tell him we’re on the air!’”

“I do wear those once in a while.”

How could you not wear them? A lot of people can say they saw the fight, but probably only one can do so wearing a pair of pants he had made to commemorate the event. 

The day hockey died for me

The date was April 19, 2004.

That was the day when, for the second time in three years, the Boston Bruins lost to the Montreal Canadiens in the playoffs despite being a higher seed. Two years earlier, when the Bruins were the top seed in the Eastern Conference, they fell in six games to the eight-seeded Canadiens.

Swearing I was giving up hockey for good on that day, I gave Boston another shot in 2004, when it was the No. 2 and facing No. 7 Montreal. The teams split the first three games, and in Game 7 in Boston, the Bruins mustered no offense against Jose Theodore, the same goalie who stymied them two years earlier. He made all 32 saves in a 2-0 win. Keep in mind that Boston led 3-1 in the series before dropping the final three games.

Sure, the Bruins own a lead that is nearly insurmountable for the Habs. But no matter how far they go this year, I won’t be watching.

Who will give Boston a parade?

The Celtics and Bruins are both immersed in their respective playoff series, with the Bruins leading the Canadiens 3-0 and the Celtics tied 1-1 with the Bulls. But here’s the real question: Who has a better chance at a championship?

The B’s are the top seed in the Eastern Conference and playing with a ton of confidence right now. One more win at the Belle Centre, and Boston will earn a berth in the conference semifinals, a station it hasn’t seen in some time. Not only that, but the Washington Capitals, perhaps the Bruins’ biggest adversary in the conference, are trailing the Rangers two games to one.

Now to the Celtics, who are having a tougher time with the Bulls than anyone could have imagined. Sure, KG is out of the lineup and won’t be back — at least according to Doc Rivers — but Glen “Big Baby” Davis is starting to prove himself, and Kendrick Perkins is more assertive down low than ever. Mikki Moore and Stephon Marbury need to start contributing, and Eddie House will be a key down the stretch in this series.

Still, as much as I’d like to see the Celtics raise banner No. 18, I think it might be The Year of the Bruins, who will party like it’s 1972.

What do you have on draft?

It's difficult to imagine getting so excited about such a boring event, but I always look forward to the NFL draft. For one, it's a nice break from an otherwise boring month of April. And, like most NFL fans, I'm interested to see which players my team will select and listen to a lot of pointless analysis about, not only the players but where they were drafted. 

It also means, that, after this weekend, we won't have to look at Mel Kiper or his hair for about another 11 months. OK, yes, he'll be all over ESPN next week commenting on the draft and handing out utterly meaningless draft grades. But his air time will diminish significantly compared to what we've been subjected to the last few weeks. 

As much as so-called "experts" like Kiper tend to annoy me, I've enjoyed the addition of Todd McShay to the ESPN draft coverage. He's not as irritating or pompous as Kiper, and rattles Kiper's cage a little.

When I watch the draft for about 10 minutes on Saturday (right around the No. 9 pick), I'll be interested to listen to those two bicker.