Vince ‘Live’: He takes a whippin’ and keeps on clickin’ By Danny Douglas | Wednesday, April 18, 2007, 09:42 AM Vince Young, the cover model for EA Sports’ “Madden ‘08,” admitted being a video game junkie during a guest appearance on “The Jimmy Kimmel Show” on Tuesday night. “I’ve played video games since I was a little kid,” the former Texas Longhorns quarterback said. “I’d turn the volume way down, but Mama would still catch me and whip me.” In addition to playing video games, Young said he has Texas’ 2006 national championship victory over Southern Cal on his iPod. Kimmel asked about the injury jinx associated with being featured on the cover of the Madden game. The last six players so honored suffered injuries. Thus, the “Madden Curse.” Young, who took over as the Tennessee Titans starter as a rookie last season, said, “I’ve prayed about it. We’re just ready to have a good season, make the playoffs and go on to the Super Bowl.” Asked about not being taken by his hometown Houston Texans in the 2007 NFL draft, Young said, “I was pretty hurt. I wanted to play at home in front of my family and friends, and they (the Titans) went with Mario Williams (as their top pick). But, hey, I’m still with the original Houston Oilers.” Kimmel also asked how Young has spent some of the $58 million contract he signed with the Titans. “I took care of my mom, gave back to my church and bought a house and all the different cars I love,” Young said. “How many cars … one, two? I’m guess it’s closer to two than one,” Kimmel inquired. After a little arm twisting, Young said he has four cars. “I got little cousins growing up, so when I’m through with ‘em, I’ll give ‘em to them.”
The most exciting player in the NFL, the one the Texans passed over for the least exciting player in the NFL. What an incredibly brain dead decision that was, destined to go down in the anals of stupidity.
A buddy of mine sent me this... Vince Young Awarded Madden Cover After Twelve Other Players Decline NASHVILLE, TN--Titans quarterback Vince Young will get the honor of appearing on the cover of Madden 2008 this summer, after twelve other players declined the offer, citing their wish to avoid the legendary “Madden Curse.” Though Young wasn’t their first choice, EA Sports said it is proud to be associated with a player of his stature. “We are very pleased to announce that Vince Young will be gracing the cover of Madden 2008,” said EA Sports vice-president Daniel Powe. “We couldn’t think of a better player to be representing our brand, after LaDanian Tomlinson, Peyton Manning, Reggie Bush, Brian Urlacher, Ben Roethlisberger, Adalius Thomas, Frank Gore, Steve Smith, Alge Crumpler, Jonathan Ogden, Olindo Mare, and Dwyane Wade all declined. Vince was the next guy on the list, and to our elation, he said ‘yes.’ To return the favor, we’re going to give him a halfway decent arm in the game.” Young’s passer rating was only 66.7 last season, but his athleticism and creativity made him “an ideal candidate” to grace the cover of the popular video game. “Vince is about a lot more than his numbers,” said Powe. “This guy can put a team on his back and will them to victory. Believe me, if he was some kind of slouch he would never have been the thirteenth person on our list of possible cover candidates. Actually there were only ten people on our original list. Vince was third on our list of emergency, last resort candidates, which is impressive in and of itself.” Powe and the rest of the folks at EA Sports are hoping that Young has a breakout season in 2007 in order to justify their selection of him. “Last year he was just learning the ropes, but I think this year we can expect some big things from him,” said Powe. “He is still a very young player with some tremendous upside. Plus he has that great receiver, what’s his face, and the running back there, Chris…Brown? Is he still with the team? Anyway, the Titans have a lot of weapons. I've just never heard of any of them.” With Young elected the new Madden cover boy, Titans fans are concerned he could fall prey to the same curse that claimed Shaun Alexander, Donovan McNabb, Michael Vick, and others. “Oh God, Vince is on the cover this year?” asked 32-year-old blogger Jason Schwartz. “Great. Now he’s going to get injured and he’s going to be out for the season and the rest of his career is going to be a big disappointment. He should realize that there’s a reason the rest of the guys turned the damn thing down. It’s a curse. I don’t even know why EA Sports picked him in the first place, to tell you the truth. He’s not even that great. What, was Olindo Mare not available?” For Young, the opportunity to pose for the cover of Madden was too good to pass up. A huge fan of the popular game series, Young often fantasized about seeing his likeness on the cover but never dreamed it would happen for real. “Well I feel like I’ve finally arrived,” Young told reporters on Tuesday. “I mean, getting your face on the cover of Madden is, like, unbelievable. It’s the Holy Grail. I can’t tell you how many times I played the game as a teenager and daydreamed about being on the cover. It’s just flattering that they would choose me. They must really think highly of old Vince. I wonder who their fourteenth choice was.”
http://www.aolsportsblog.com/2007/04/18/ladainian-tomlinson-walked-away-from-madden-cover/ LaDainian Tomlinson Walked Away From Madden Cover Posted Apr 18th 2007 2:03PM by Michael David Smith Filed under: Chargers, Titans, Breaking News It turns out that Madden 2008 cover boy Vince Young was not EA Sports' first choice. Before Young got the video game endorsement, Chargers running back LaDainian Tomlinson was offered the opportunity to appear on the cover but turned it down. According to CNBC (via Deadspin), Tomlinson doesn't believe in the Madden Curse, but he does believe that he deserves to be well compensated for the use of his image, and he balked at the payment EA Sports offered. Players who appear on the cover usually get $100,000 to $200,000 to make various promotional appearances to help sell the game, and Tomlinson didn't feel that was enough to make it worth his while. Whatever his reasons, some Charger fans are very happy.
VY on making the Madden cover. I've bolded parts I believe will interest tinman. http://sports.espn.go.com/videogames/news/story?id=2841051&lpos=spotlight&lid=tab5pos2 Vince Young on making the Madden cover By Mary Buckheit ESPN.com ESPN.com's Mary Buckheit recently sat down with Tennessee Titans quarterback Vince Young to discuss making the cover of Madden NFL 08: Vince, what does it mean to be on the cover of Madden? To have your face on the Madden cover, it means a whole lot. I think about how much we played Madden growing up -- it got to the point we'd have tournaments in the neighborhood, betting against each other, all kinds of stuff. And to be on the cover of it, man, it's just a phenomenal feeling. Once you got to the NFL and saw yourself in the Madden game, what was that feeling like? It was great. Growing up, one of my best friends and I used to play Madden 94, 95 until about 12 o'clock at night. Mom would tell us to go to bed, and we'd still be playing. We would act like we went to sleep, and when she'd lay down we'd turn it right back on. You turn the volume down, stay quiet, try not to get too excited or mad at each other. You'd make a big play, and you couldn't get loud because you don't want to wake up Mom because she just told your butt to go to bed! What's your team in Madden? I like to go with the Titans, for sure. I like to put the throwback Oilers uniforms on them. What was your team back in the day? I used to love the Giants, playing with guys like Lawrence Taylor. I used to love playing with Buffalo and Thurman Thomas. I used to love playing with the Oilers because of Warren Moon, and Ernest Givins, and Frank Wycheck -- all them guys, they had a nice team. Who are the guys you play against most? I actually play online a lot. So I play against the world. There are some great guys out there. When you're playing online, do you tell the world that they are playing against Vince Young? Nah. (Laughing) I mean, I've got VY10 on there, so they can figure it out if they tried. How big is Madden within the locker room -- do you guys bust on each other about player ratings? Oh man, it's ridiculous, ever since college. You're in camp, there's fighting, you're going through that heat -- especially in Austin, Texas, it's about 102 degrees down there. And all you keep hearing is, "I can't wait until the college [game] comes out so I can see what the ratings are!" And in the NFL it's the same thing. I don't really get into it too much, but you sure do hear about it in the locker room. When I look at my player rating, I think, "OK, that's somebody's opinion, that's where they got me." I know what I am. I play like myself, I do my thing, that's what I do. Does Virtual Vince Young have the dashing good looks of the real Vince Young? I think they've got to dress me up a little bit better! They've got me kinda big and I throw the ball a little funny, but it's not too bad. So you want a higher style rating? Yeah, I look a little better than they've got me, you know! The past guys that have been on the cover -- like Ray Lewis, Marshall Faulk, Eddie George -- it's an impressive list. Where does this rank on your all-time list of accomplishments? I rank it pretty high. It's just a chance for someone to, when they see me on the cover or they go online and pull up my history, they'll read my story -- and that's basically what I'm trying to get out into the world. My story is how I made a big spin in life, to be where I am today. A lot of people out there don't believe in God, or don't believe they can make a change, because there's so much going on in their life. I want them to go read up on me and say, "Hey, if this guy can do it and he's carrying himself like this here, and he made it all the way to the Madden cover, I'm pretty sure that I can." So you're not sweating the Madden cover curse too hard? Nah. I'm a big fate guy, I don't worry about no jinx. If I get hurt, it was bound to happen. Or if I go through the season, and have a great season, I think that's God's will. So I don't believe in none of that stuff. I just go out there and play the game that I love the most -- football. Mary Buckheit is a columnist for ESPN.com's Page 2. She can be reached at marybuckheit@hotmail.com.
And the haters hate.. How do you hate on a person who likes the Ernest Givens on Madden? how? Oh I guess evil people hate on Ernest Givens.
We in SD are very happy that LT is not on the cover thank you very much. However, I don't truly believe there is a curse even though it is fun to joke about. The problem is that I still don't believe in Vince Young at all, and he is going to come back to earth this coming season and everyone will blame the Madden Curse.
I don't recall Wycheck being on the Run n Shoot Oilers. IIRC he was on the Fisher teams with Chandler at QB.
Yep. It was a wunderlic question. Throwback Oilers, eh? Okay, try finding the Oilers records on your team's website there, Vince. They're not there. Look under Warren Moon. He never played as a Titan. (edit: well, they added a "history" section, but you have to hunt it down.) You're not on the original Oilers... you're on the first Tennessee Possums (play dead at home, get killed on the road). Prepare to repeat that trend.
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