Madden 12 cover athlete vote expanded to 32-team bracket

by James Ransom-Wiley on Mar 21st 2011 12:55PM

Perhaps channeling the spirit of "March Madness," EA Sports and ESPN's SportsNation have partnered to present a five-week, bracket-style voting campaign for the Madden 12 cover athlete -- labor disputes be damned!

The first round, which starts today and runs through next Sunday, divides the field of 32 players (one from each NFL team) into two sides of seeded match-ups, with quarterbacks Aaron Rodgers and Philip Rivers representing the two #1 seeds. (League MVP Tom Brady is noticeably absent from the field of candidates.)

It's unclear how exactly the rankings and players were determined, but the first round craftily pairs match-ups by division, playing off of heated rivalries. While this setup encourages each team's dedicated fan base to vote (for themselves in the case of the lowly Seahawks), those loyalists might first have to overcome superstition. While electing Panthers' offensive tackle Jordan Gross to the cover would be quite a coup for Carolina fans, can they really risk cursing the standout lineman? Perhaps the best strategy, then, is to vote for the teams and players you hate the most.

Source: EA
More coverage: Madden 12 Cover Vote

Tags: cover, ea, ea-sports, espn, madden, madden-nfl-12, microsoft, nintendo, playstation, ps3, psp, sony, sportsnation, vote, wii, xbox

Reader Comments (57)

Being that this season might not be, they should put a picture of the fans on the cover instead of one of the athletes.

Or a picture of Madden himself sitting alone in an empty stadium, huge grin on his face, jumbo royalty check in tow.

*shrug*

@Jason B Thats actually an option. Choose the 12th man (Seahawks) over Patrick Willis.

@AgentJ I think everyone should vote the 12th man. If there's no season the fans already received the madden curse, we should at least get a cover for our troubles.

@Jason B Or maybe just a big pile of money.

It will be Vick FYI

@Friv0lous

I hope it is, as a Giants fan I want the Curse of Madden to be placed on an NFC East rival

@xHotPotatox

Cowboys fan here and i feel the same way. i love DeMarcus Ware but seriously, he has no shot against Vick in this matchup.

i don't know about everyone else but i remember what happened the last time Vick was on the cover of Madden. not to wish bad on anyone but i would rather see Kevin Kolb twice than Vick.

Wow the Seahawks are so shitty they have to throw the fan base in there. That being said, having the "12th man" as a the cover is kind of a cool idea.

@BoozeRob I wouldn't call them shitty, they did beat the Saints in the playoffs...

That said, the Seahawks don't have any one partiularly good player. (Unless you count Marcus Trufant. He's a beast.) However, Seattle's fans are some of the greatest on the planet. No matter how many times the Seahawks (or even the Mariners, for that matter) screw up their chances at winning it all, the fans always stand behind their teams.

They're loud as hell, too.

I love how they are acknowledging Seattle has no stars, lol

@Drew327 Why do you hate Clipboard Jesus?

@Drew327

Well they do have Leon, and Thomas was one of the better rookies in the league this year.

I'm not a Seahawks fan at all, but the idea of putting fat Seahawks fan's on the cover of a game's case is pretty funny. I voted for it =D

Cool idea. I'm going to vote for Phillip Rivers. To hell with the curse, the Chargers aren't winning the superbowl this year anyway.

Apparently Tom Brady and Peyton Manning aren't under consideration. I'm sure not voting for Danny Woodhead.

@Hoops Brett Favre thinks Woodhead is a good player. Likes to name his penis after him.
(if you don't understand this joke, YouTube Brett What Should I Do)

@Hoops - Apparently the two best QB's in the league aren't good enough for the cover of Madden. I wonder if it is a coincidence that the lawsuits brought in the name of the players were under Tom Brady and Peyton Manning (or that is what I read anyway. If I've confused the issue, someone please correct me).

@BananaBoat

Brees is in that suit as well

@Shoti - Good point. If the NFL was angry, they'd be angry at Brees too.

@Hoops I assume it's due to licensing agreements, they're probably too expensive? I dunno, it's weird that neither has ever had a Madden cover. I know Peyton had that crappy NFL XBOX only game for the original xbox, I don't remember Brady ever getting a cover for any game.

Wait. If Seattle win the cover, what will come of the Madden curse?

Are they going to have to put Danger labels at every Seahawks game?

@EpsilonZX
There'll probably just be more earthquakes. Though this time they might not be caused by the fans.

@AgentJ
Interesting timing on that there joke... !

Hmmm... so we get to vote for the next player to get the madden curse..... very interesting.

if there's a lockout you are just buyin an empty box anyways

I'd like to see a large internet troll scheme in place to rig the votes so the random Carolina lineman gets on the cover.

Everyone who buys the game will be like... WHO?!

Hmm who will be the next man to be chosen for a game cover...and said game will be sold at my job for $5.00 in one year.

I still can't drop 60 bones for what is essentially the same game since 2004 with just updated rosters.

Lowly Seahawks? Now, I understand they snuck into the playoffs last year with a losing record and that's kind of weak, but to call them lowly is just dumb. There were 20 other teams more deserving of that term this past season. Bills, Bengals, Broncos, Panthers. That's lowly.

I'm not sure what I think of the 12th Man on the cover of Madden considering the curse, but let's not joke about earthquakes. I live right outside of Seattle and we're plenty aware of that possibility already.

Just choose Aaron Rodgers, he deserves the shit out of it. He brought the Packers into the playoffs despite tons of injuries and shat on the #1 seed along the way to the Super Bowl. There's no reason not to have him on the cover.

Is it wrong that I believe in the Madden Curse so much that I intentionally voted for people I want to have it

They better make a big deal about the cover. Its about the only thing that's different from year to year.

As a Carolina fan, I must say: Huh?

Also, where's Ray Lewis? What the hell, EA?

@PatientJ
He's on the last good one: Madden '05, which is why I'm surprised to see some of the older coverboys on this list. And what's with the rivalries? Ravens vs. browns? steelers vs. bengals? That's bass ackwards.

Aaron Rodgers, Super Bowl MVP. End o' story.

P. Willis, best LB in the game

Let's go Stevie!

For real though, everyone pick the 12th man, it'll be hilarious.

@MGTrey Lets go buffalo!

The biggest question of all is....why is Dunlap representing the Bengals? Why not Ochocinco? He is not shy and isn't against promoting his image. He is most certainly the "face" of that franchise.....doesn't make sense..

Doesn't matter though, because Stevie Johnson needs to win!

@DanteSparda504 I think because they don;'t want to repeat another Brett Farve incident which they had him on the cover as a packer even though he was traded to the jets before they can switch the covers. ochocinco isn't probably going to be a bengal for long after the lockout is over anyway

@DanteSparda504 Well, there is a chance he might not be with the Bengals next year. Don't want to pull another Favre and try to convince people to download and print a "replacement cover." :p

@DanteSparda504 Ochocinco will up on the next FIFA game.

There's more of us on joystiq? Oppressed economically and comically persistently bad football team fans, unite!

At least they finally got Peyton HIllis' number right, though they still don't have the right sleeve style on him in the video.

@CrashTunoku I also kind of hope Tim Tebow wins since he won't be starting even if the lockout ends soon.

Everyone vote Woodhead! What better to grace the cover then a player who fought hard against adversity and odds to play in the NFL. Cut by the Jets and then signed on to the Pats and showing that size doesn't matter when you have heart and football smarts.

Darren McFadden a 16 seed? I smell a Cinderella story... that is if Raider Nation can make parol in time.

@Raiderfan

you just made my day lolol

How about instead of this cover athlete nonsense they fix the superstar mode? I finally got a chance to play it and I can't believe how they got away with some of the reviews scores. There are no features in it and the whole time you feel disconnected from your player. I read somewhere they will be improving it for this year, I can only hope they are going to scrap what they have now and overhaul it completely.

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Madden 12 cover athlete vote expanded to 32-team bracket

Reader Comments (57)

Posted: Mar 21st 2011 1:02PM Jason B said

Posted: Mar 21st 2011 1:08PM darkinchworm said

Posted: Mar 21st 2011 1:18PM AgentJ said

Posted: Mar 21st 2011 2:07PM nick91884 said

Posted: Mar 21st 2011 5:21PM Raiderfan said

Posted: Mar 21st 2011 1:02PM Friv0lous said

Posted: Mar 21st 2011 1:46PM xHotPotatox said

Posted: Mar 22nd 2011 2:57AM SoCoolCurt said

Posted: Mar 21st 2011 1:02PM BoozeRob said

Posted: Mar 21st 2011 1:39PM MastrCake said

Posted: Mar 21st 2011 1:05PM Drew327 said

Posted: Mar 21st 2011 1:12PM BoozeRob said

Posted: Mar 21st 2011 1:31PM DericLee said

Posted: Mar 21st 2011 1:07PM robob1988 said

Posted: Mar 21st 2011 1:09PM Hoops said

Posted: Mar 21st 2011 1:12PM Hoops said

Posted: Mar 21st 2011 2:30PM Schlecht said

Posted: Mar 21st 2011 4:08PM BananaBoat said

Posted: Mar 21st 2011 7:05PM Shoti said

Posted: Mar 21st 2011 7:28PM BananaBoat said

Posted: Mar 21st 2011 7:50PM Hoops said

Posted: Mar 21st 2011 1:16PM EpsilonZX said

Posted: Mar 21st 2011 1:19PM AgentJ said

Posted: Mar 21st 2011 1:24PM darkinchworm said

Posted: Mar 21st 2011 1:17PM Mika101 said

Posted: Mar 21st 2011 1:25PM penetraitor said

Posted: Mar 21st 2011 1:25PM jynxycat said

Posted: Mar 21st 2011 1:29PM The Only Girl said

Posted: Mar 21st 2011 1:39PM salmoriarty said

Posted: Mar 21st 2011 1:43PM mpa25 said

Posted: Mar 21st 2011 1:45PM DelTrigger said

Posted: Mar 21st 2011 1:47PM xHotPotatox said

Posted: Mar 21st 2011 2:03PM Apakal said

Posted: Mar 21st 2011 2:16PM PatientJ said

Posted: Mar 21st 2011 7:16PM SuperWoody64 said

Posted: Mar 21st 2011 2:31PM Schlecht said

Posted: Mar 21st 2011 2:41PM Slight of Ham said

Posted: Mar 21st 2011 2:43PM MGTrey said

Posted: Mar 21st 2011 2:50PM DanteSparda504 said

Posted: Mar 21st 2011 2:49PM DanteSparda504 said

Posted: Mar 21st 2011 3:24PM (Unverified) said

Posted: Mar 21st 2011 5:48PM dscuber9000 said

Posted: Mar 21st 2011 6:07PM salmoriarty said

Posted: Mar 21st 2011 3:24PM MGTrey said

Posted: Mar 21st 2011 3:01PM CrashTunoku said

Posted: Mar 21st 2011 3:03PM CrashTunoku said

Posted: Mar 21st 2011 3:12PM (Unverified) said

Posted: Mar 21st 2011 5:15PM Raiderfan said

Posted: Mar 21st 2011 9:14PM TSTLSOOM said

Posted: Mar 21st 2011 5:28PM (Unverified) said

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