The greatest video game of all time (but for NFL2K5) has landed the greatest quarterback of all time.
Tom Brady will appear on the cover of Madden 18, dubbed the G.O.A.T. edition. The cover image has Brady emitting a primal scream, which in recent years has become one of his trademark moves.
The choice is an odd one, and not simply because (as noted by ESPN.com) Brady is the oldest player to ever grace the cover of a game that fewer and fewer people buy in a case that actually has a cover on it. Superstar players typically have not appeared on the cover of the game because the player often wants much more than Electronic Arts is willing to pay. As to Brady, the most intriguing aspect of the arrangement becomes how much he’ll receive from a game that millions would buy even if Blaine Gabbert were on the cover.
As those who enjoy the Madden game know, even if the game is purchased as a direct download a loop of clips of digitized #Tommy will play each time the game loads. So just as you’ve spent the last eight months seeing a sneering Rob Gronkowski and the 12 before that watching Odell Beckham Jr. dance, Brady will be a regular presence on your TV screen from August 2017 to August 18.
Then there’s the issue of the curse. As the Patriots go for Super Bowl No. 6, Brady is stepping into the crosshairs of the notion that the man who shows up on the cover of the Madden game suffers injury or hardship.
“I suppose there’s been some reality to that curse over the years,” Brady said, via ESPN.com. “Hopefully I can break it. That would be pretty cool.”
It would be the opposite of cool if the curse claims Brady. That would make the Madden curse the greatest of all time, too.