As a Nashville resident, and somebody who's really a 49ers fan but one who is developing some hometown interest in the Tennessee Titans, I was happy to see that last year's rookie quarterback Vince Young has been selected to be on the cover of the video game Madden '08.
So the only question that remains is: will cornerback Pacman Jones make it on the cover of "Grand Theft Auto IV"?
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Rob, I gotta give it up to you, that's the funniest thing I've read on ScienceBlogs in a long time!
Well if you are gaining interest in the Titans i would suggest this is a bad thing. Don't you know about the curse?
Yeah, I know about the curse, but I also think it's a load of hooey :)
Here's my hypothesis for the origin of the curse: the effects of the curse and the selection for being on the cover of Madden have a common cause. That is, extremely high expectations.
Vince Young started the year last year amid huge skepticism. The Titans had been struggling. Here was a hot young quarterback... but a quarterback who thrived by being able to run against college defenses, and it wasn't clear that it was going to work against pro defenses. And, indeed, in early games during the year (when he wasn't the starter, but was put in later in the game), he looked very shaky. He looked impressive when he was passing... to his own team. But when he started to scramble, too often he ended up getting caught way behind the line.
The second half of the year-- he was on fire. His enthusiasm and attitude was an inspiration for the team, a marked contrast to the horrors that Pacman brings. His athleticism served him well. He became our Great Hope.
So... no matter what, Vince Young is under the spotlight next year. The fact that he became the Great Hope is what will make him have a stressful year next year where any sort of underperformance we highly overanalized. He will be under the microscope, and that kind of attention may prove to make things difficult for him.
The fact that he became the Great Hope is also why he was selected for the cover of Madden....
-Rob
While we're on the topic of Nashville sports - I would say I'm sorry to see the Nashville Predators eliminated from the Stanley Cup playoffs, but I'm a Sharks fan, so I'm not. :)