Round two in the Madden NFL 12 cover athlete search concluded Sunday evening as round three began. Unlike round 1, the second round saw a few upsets en route to the “Elite 8” of nominated players.
In case you missed it, this year EA Sports chose one representative for each NFL team and seeded them similar to the NCAA Basketball Tournament brackets. They are letting the fans, both of the game and the NFL, select the cover athlete for Madden NFL 12 via this round-by-round tournament.
The two big upsets I saw were Cleveland running back Peyton Hillis beating out newly-crowned NFL golden boy Atlanta Falcon QB Matt Ryan by the narrow margin of 51% to 49%. Also losing was the Pittsburgh Steelers’ Hines Ward falling to Niners’ linebacker Patrick Willis. I thought the Stillers’ fanbase was big enough to propel Ward to an easy victory over a defensive player, instead he lost 60% to 40%, a pretty wide margin.
Are the Pittsburgh fans just playing it smart and staying away from the Madden curse? Hmmm, I don’t know if they’re smart enough for that.
The image below features the match-ups for round 3. Click the bracket to submit your vote:
I smell a green-on-green final to this tournament with Aaron Rodgers facing Michael Vick. As I mentioned in a previous article, if Vick wins and is struck down by the Madden curse, I am going to find every last one of you and give you a “random prize”. Since I am fair I will let you choose whether you want it with or without corn in it.
Who is your guess for the winner? Are the fans voting for their favorite players or for their favorite team’s rival to strike them down with the Madden Curse! Make your guesses in the comment section below.
