Madden NFL 13 Cover Vote.

[SmoothPancakes]

So who's supposed to be on the cover?

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I don't have anyone specific, but someone who has done something. The Madden cover has always been (or at least used to be) a place for someone who had a monster season the year before. The league MVP, the defensive MVP, a player who made his team's season and led them deep into the playoffs or something, etc. Cam Newton, while he may have set some rookie season records, does not yet deserve to be on the cover. Lets see how he has done in another season or two and if he keeps up the numbers and production, then go for it. But right now, it's nothing more than a stupid fucking popularity contest. Stats don't mean jack shit anymore, it's what teams/fan bases can whore out the most votes for their player. It's all stupid bullshit these days. If it was EA still deciding who they wanted, Cam Newton wouldn't have even been in the top 10 of options.

[NatureBoy]

Cam Newton holds slim lead in 'Madden' cover vote

Cam Newton has clobbered every player on his way to the "Madden NFL 13" cover vote final four. So much so, that I just assumed he'd dispatch of hard-hitting linebacker Patrick Willis before the weekend and secure his plane tickets to the New York cover unveiling in a couple of weeks.

But not so fast.

I don't know if Cam's support is wavering or the Carolina faithful are all of a sudden worried about the dreaded "Madden" cover curse, but Willis shot out of the gates strong, and heading into the weekend, Newton holds only 52.8 percent of the vote.

That makes the next few days key in deciding this tight race as the lone defensive player left in the bracket tries to make a final push to pull off the biggest upset of the cover vote tournament.


http://espn.go.com/espn/thelife/vide...name/thegamer/

[CLW]

I agree with smooth generally but IF Newton is able to win this bad boy hopefully the curse will strike him down and hill break a leg or something and miss the entire season.

[NatureBoy]

What was once 64 players vying for their spot in “Madden” lore is now down to two superstars competing for the spotlight of one cover.

It’s Cam Newton versus Calvin Johnson with everything from the “Madden 13” photo shoot to that six-figure EA check to the dreaded cover curse on the line.

Fans have one week to vote, with the winner being announced on April 25 live on ESPN’s SportsNation at a special set location in the heart of Times Square.

But the question remains, who will win the right to be on the “Madden 13” cover?

My money is on the upset kid, Calvin Johnson. Sure, Cam has received more votes overall since the competition began, but if you look at the way the numbers are trending, Johnson has been getting stronger, beating number one seed Aaron Rodgers by over 150,000 votes, while Cam barely squeaked out a win over Patrick Willis in the final four. In fact, after the first day of voting, Willis was actually ahead, but then Newton’s fans rallied around their quarterback, leading to a narrow 52.6 to 47.4 percent victory.

That’s why my mind’s set on a Megatron cover. Besides, you can’t curse a Transformer.

http://espn.go.com/blog/playbook/tech

[skipwondah33]

I don't have anyone specific, but someone who has done something. The Madden cover has always been (or at least used to be) a place for someone who had a monster season the year before. The league MVP, the defensive MVP, a player who made his team's season and led them deep into the playoffs or something, etc. Cam Newton, while he may have set some rookie season records, does not yet deserve to be on the cover. Lets see how he has done in another season or two and if he keeps up the numbers and production, then go for it. But right now, it's nothing more than a stupid fucking popularity contest. Stats don't mean jack shit anymore, it's what teams/fan bases can whore out the most votes for their player. It's all stupid bullshit these days. If it was EA still deciding who they wanted, Cam Newton wouldn't have even been in the top 10 of options.

Well Peyton Hillis did win...sooo why not Cam?

[NatureBoy]

Whether Fans Pick Megatron or Cam Newton, Madden will be the Big Winner.

When I chided him for seeding Detroit's all-galaxy receiver Calvin Johnson at No. 6 in the Madden cover contest, Anthony Stevenson didn't back down. "OK, who is it seeded above him that you would replace?" he asked.

My answer? All of 'em.

Megatron validated my faith in him, not as a sleeper pick, but the odds-on favorite to win out when he rolled into the final round of this contest with a crushing victory over the Green Bay Packers' Aaron Rodgers. And two months after offering up a field of 64 players—one of them a punter—for consideration, Madden has two candidates that recall the days when the league's No. 1 stud was a regular guest on the front of the game.

Johnson, probably the best receiver in the league coming into his sixth year, will face Cam Newton, the Carolina Panther whose debut year rewrote expectations for rookie quarterbacks. As sure as someone wearing light blue and a silver helmet will make the front, Madden will be represented by one of the NFL's true up-and-comers and best players.

"The cover vote represents a snapshot look at the NFL, ideally," Stevenson, the game's director of marketing, said to me this morning. "It's really fantastic, because when we look back at this time, we'll know, 'Wow, there were really some young, great players in this league. The Mannings and Tom Brady were around, but this is the time the next generation was coming in and dominating."

More than 20 million votes have been cast in the cover contest, which is up from the nearly 13 million cast last year, although it had a field of 32, not 64, and did not have the play-in round added this year. Still Stevenson is delighted by the response, especially considering the play-in was voted entirely on Facebook. (The current rounds of voting have been done through ESPN's SportsNation web site.)

The winner will be announced a week from today, April 25, on SportsNation, which broadcasts at 5 p.m. EDT.

Madden has two candidates that recall the days when the league's stud held the front of the game.

Stevenson thinks the final pairing is a total tossup, and insists he's not saying that just to remain neutral in a process he's overseen. "When you look at Calvin Johnson, the Lions are the new Saints, right?" he said. "Detroit is a feel-good city, they've been hit hard in the economy and they're coming back, the Lions, after going 0-16—and Calvin was a part of that—they get [Matt] Stafford and [Ndamukong] Suh and [Nick] Fairley, and now are what people feel like is a playoff or even Super Bowl contender.

"I have no vested interest in either candidate, but who am I rooting for?" Stevenson pondered. "All things being equal, I'm rooting for Detroit. We saw this play out the same way in Cleveland a year ago."

That's when the Browns' famously loyal fans got out the vote for the eventual Madden 12 cover star, running back Peyton Hillis, a kind of underdog, everyman representative from a losing team. He defeated Michael Vick in the final round, an unorthodox pairing of candidates that I'm not sure EA Sports would have considered in the days when its marketers alone chose the cover. Voters last year may not have really grasped what was being left up to them, too.

Now, it feels like voters understand they're in charge of, as I have always called it, sports video gaming's Wheaties box. And with Cam Newton, they've given Stevenson another option who can sell a lot of product himself.

"The advantage Cam has is he's the quarterback, and he won a national championship at Auburn, which has a huge fan base," Stevenson said. "Cam also won a lot of fantasy leagues for a lot of people who drafted him late or picked him up off waivers. But when you look back at the Madden cover, one position really stands out, and it's quarterback."

It didn't help Aaron Rodgers, arguably the best quarterback in the tournament. But that's probably because, again, superstitious Packer fans didn't want their meal ticket breaking his collarbone in week 5 thanks to the mythological "Madden Curse," that befalls the stars—though it didn't for Drew Brees in 2010 or Larry Fitzgerald in 2009.

"Calvin absolutely destroyed Rodgers in that matchup," Stevenson said. "Packer fans, you know, they live in a small town where it is all about their team, and they don't risk anything. It's no joke, [the cover curse] is a real issue for those guys. For the Lions and Panther fans, it doesn't seem to affect them as much. I think the voting will be pretty clean."

For his part, Stevenson said he liked Arian Foster, the Houston Texans running back who, just like Johnson and Newton, is of that all-Pro mold, and top league story, that defined cover athletes like Vick in 2003, Shaun Alexander in 2007 and Vince Young 2008. Rob Gronkowski "from a sheer entertainment standpoint," also would have been a great representative, Stevenson said. The Patriots tight end filmed a bunch of comedy videos trying to rally support.

But, yeah, you know, both of those guys lost to my guy: Megatron, whom I called, before the field was even announced, "a solid favorite to win it all." I just didn't think EA Sports had someone of his wattage lined up at the time. Give them their due, they did.

"This whole conversation about Calvin Johnson being a six-seed, to me, it's not as fun if the final four was all No. 1 seeds, right?" Stevenson said. "It's all about the fans and whatever they want, and I love seeing Calvin Johnson get there. At the end of the day, you could make an argument for Arian vs. Calvin or Gronk vs. Calvin, and that's the point. It's about sparking conversation."

http://kotaku.com/5903228/whether-fa...ium=socialflow

[NatureBoy]

'Madden' vote: Newton calls out Megatron

With less than a week to go in the “Madden NFL 13” cover vote, Cam Newton released a hilarious YouTube video hoping to swing the masses, pleading to not only ladies, gentlemen, boys and girls, but even cats and dogs.

Check out the video to learn about all of Cam’s nicknames, including Mr. Swagman and Mr. Goes H.A.M., as Newton throws down the gauntlet and challenges Calvin Johnson to a game of “Madden” to prove who deserves to be on the cover.

We even get a glimpse of Cam’s video game sanctuary, complete with two screens for anyone who wants to step up to “Boogieville USA.”

Gamers who want to challenge Cam themselves should skip ahead to the five minute mark of the video where the quarterback actually releases both his Xbox Live and PlayStation 3 names to the gaming world in order to prove just who is the best “Madden” player alive.

Anyone who wants to challenge “Killa Cam” just needs to e-mail him at playcam@cam1newton.com and include your name, phone number, and gamer tag.

You never know, you just might get a call from the best young quarterback in the game.

I think that’s worth a vote.



http://espn.go.com/blog/playbook/tech

[ram29jackson]

I want to see a video of whether he's another cheeser or straight player LOL

[steelerfan]

I want to see a video of whether he's another cheeser or straight player LOL

Running his mouth like he did, and those tags/id's is almost a dead giveaway of complete cheese. I'd bet he rolls out and throws deep on virtually every play.

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[ram29jackson]

Running his mouth like he did, and those tags/id's is almost a dead giveaway of complete cheese. I'd bet he rolls out and throws deep on virtually every play.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I997 using Tapatalk 2

LOL I honestly doubt that..and his tags arent thaaat bad compared to all the killa/420/weed/numba1/dominateyou/king/ninja,childish bravado dumb ass junk out there.

and I'm also willing to believe he will only play guys who dont sound like ghetto,jock sniffing, children and right a decent email etc

[JeffHCross]

Running his mouth like he did, and those tags/id's is almost a dead giveaway of complete cheese. I'd bet he rolls out and throws deep on virtually every play.

I'm pretty sure that's how he wants to play real football too

[NatureBoy]

Fresh off a mega contract, Calvin Megatron Johnson has landed the coveted cover of Madden NFL 13.

The Detroit Lions wideout beat out second-year Panthers quarterback Cam Newton for the honor. The vote was announced Wednesday afternoon on SportsNation on ESPN2.

After nearly 20 million votes, Calvin Johnson beat Cam Newton for the honor of appearing on Madden 13.

Johnson, who won by garnering 52 percent of the more than 651,000 votes cast in the competition, said he was shocked by the decision.

Although hugely popular, the video game carries the stigma of a Madden Curse.

Running back Peyton Hillis, then a member of the Cleveland Browns, won the fan vote last year, but was plagued by injuries and controversy in a hectic 2011 season. Hillis said before winning the Madden NFL 12 cover that he wasn't afraid of the curse, but after rushing for just 587 yards last season, Hillis said in December that he now believes in the cover jinx.

Johnson is coming off a spectacular season in which he caught 96 passes for a league-best 1,681 yards and 16 touchdowns. He became the third player in NFL history with at least 95 receptions, 1,600 yards and 15 touchdowns in a season, joining Jerry Rice and Randy Moss.

The Lions, who made the playoffs last season for the first time in a dozen years, rewarded the former No. 2 overall pick with an eight-year deal worth up to $132 million dollars in March.

Newton set the NFL on fire in his rookie season despite taking a crash course in mastering an NFL offense after a lockout wiped out most of the offseason. After being taken with the No. 1 overall pick in last April's draft, the quarterback that led Auburn to its first national title revitalized the Panthers, setting an NFL record for rushing touchdowns in a season by a quarterback (14) and becoming the first player in league history to throw for 4,000 yards and rush for 500 in the same year.

The former Heisman Trophy winner was then named the AP NFL Offensive Rookie of the Year after the season.

http://espn.go.com/nfl/story/_/id/78...ers-cam-newton

[ram29jackson]

I don't have anyone specific, but someone who has done something. The Madden cover has always been (or at least used to be) a place for someone who had a monster season the year before. The league MVP, the defensive MVP, a player who made his team's season and led them deep into the playoffs or something, etc. Cam Newton, while he may have set some rookie season records, does not yet deserve to be on the cover. Lets see how he has done in another season or two and if he keeps up the numbers and production, then go for it. But right now, it's nothing more than a stupid fucking popularity contest. Stats don't mean jack shit anymore, it's what teams/fan bases can whore out the most votes for their player. It's all stupid bullshit these days. If it was EA still deciding who they wanted, Cam Newton wouldn't have even been in the top 10 of options.

well,actually, seems like a pretty good marketing tool..and gives an idea of fan based interest etc

[gschwendt]

Here's the official cover art... confirms that Kinect is involved.

[SmoothPancakes]

I'm not too sure about that cover. Something about it just looks wrong/ugly to me.

[gschwendt]

I'm not too sure about that cover. Something about it just looks wrong/ugly to me.

Part of the detracting part to me is his facial expression... just looks awkward.

[steelerfan]

As with NCAA, I just don't care for the dreary black-and-white background.

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[SmoothPancakes]

As with NCAA, I just don't care for the dreary black-and-white background.

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Yep. That is one change I have never liked with the covers.

[jaymo76]

As with NCAA, I just don't care for the dreary black-and-white background.

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Well to be fair to EA, it is Detroit. I think dreary is pretty much par for the course with regards to economics anyways.

[NatureBoy]

I'm not too sure about that cover. Something about it just looks wrong/ugly to me.

He doesn't look right without his mouth piece.