nicksmith July 20, 2009 Features 14 views Comments Print This Post  Email This Post

Madden Curse of a different kind?

Wide receivers in the National Football League have gotten a reputation of late for their antics on and off the field. Terrell Owens and Chad Ocho-Cinco have been in the news over and over again for their endzone celebrations, Twittering habits, and even now a reality show for T.O.

The player formally known as “Chad Johnson” remains in the troubled Cincinnati Bengals franchise while his former teammate T.J. Houshmandzadeh has since moved on to become the top passing option for Matt Hasselbeck and the Seattle Seahawks.

Houshmandzadeh has the reputation of being a leader and a hard worker that was often overlooked because the spotlight always seemed to be on Johnson or any one of the numerous legal troubles the Bengals players found themselves in. It also didn’t help that the team repeatedly underperformed, even with stars like Johnson, Houshmandzadeh, and quarterback Carson Palmer on offense and a notorious defensive coach like Marvin Lewis.

Today Colin Cowherd interviewed Houshmandzadeh on his ESPN radio show “The Herd” and one of the topics came up was the Madden video game franchise.

Cowherd: You were known to play Madden NFL. I’m told you’re now boycotting the game. Why?

Houshmandzadeh: Yeah man. They don’t get my rating right. Man. I just look at the game and they have this wrong and that wrong. And I understand I average ten yards a catch, but it’s the offense man, it’s not me.

Cowherd: So you are boycotting Madden football?

Houshmandzadeh: Oh yeah I’m not playin Madden no more, until they get my rating right. I’m not playin.

Cowherd: Some people would say T.J. you’re just pouting. How would you describe this?

Houshmandzadeh: Yeah it might be a little pouting too. It might be. But you know, I used to be the best in the world in Madden. So I’m gonna miss not playing it but until they do me right, I’m not playing it no more.

Awhile back we had Los Angeles Laker Jordan Farmar tell us something very similar and Reggie Bush told us he could use a ratings boost too.

This seems to be a trend among athletes, unless you are Devin Hester and it is not even possible to be faster. There are plenty of athletes to worry about and plenty of opportunity for mistakes, but in many cases they could be vastly improved.

Are there any awful ratings or blunders you have seen in the many sports games over the years?