NASHVILLE, TN--Titans quarterback Vince Young will get the honor of appearing on the cover of Madden 2008 this summer, after twelve other players declined the offer, citing their wish to avoid the legendary “Madden Curse.”

Though Young wasn’t their first choice, EA Sports said it is proud to be associated with a player of his stature.

“We are very pleased to announce that Vince Young will be gracing the cover of Madden 2008,” said EA Sports vice-president Daniel Powe. “We couldn’t think of a better player to be representing our brand, after LaDanian Tomlinson, Peyton Manning, Reggie Bush, Brian Urlacher, Ben Roethlisberger, Adalius Thomas, Frank Gore, Steve Smith, Alge Crumpler, Jonathan Ogden, Olindo Mare, and Dwyane Wade all declined. Vince was the next guy on the list, and to our elation, he said ‘yes.’ To return the favor, we’re going to give him a halfway decent arm in the game.”

Young’s passer rating was only 66.7 last season, but his athleticism and creativity made him “an ideal candidate” to grace the cover of the popular video game.

“Vince is about a lot more than his numbers,” said Powe. “This guy can put a team on his back and will them to victory. Believe me, if he was some kind of slouch he would never have been the thirteenth person on our list of possible cover candidates. Actually there were only ten people on our original list. Vince was third on our list of emergency, last resort candidates, which is impressive in and of itself.”

Powe and the rest of the folks at EA Sports are hoping that Young has a breakout season in 2007 in order to justify their selection of him.

“Last year he was just learning the ropes, but I think this year we can expect some big things from him,” said Powe. “He is still a very young player with some tremendous upside. Plus he has that great receiver, what’s his face, and the running back there, Chris…Brown? Is he still with the team? Anyway, the Titans have a lot of weapons. I've just never heard of any of them.”

With Young elected the new Madden cover boy, Titans fans are concerned he could fall prey to the same curse that claimed Shaun Alexander, Donovan McNabb, Michael Vick, and others.

“Oh God, Vince is on the cover this year?” asked 32-year-old blogger Jason Schwartz. “Great. Now he’s going to get injured and he’s going to be out for the season and the rest of his career is going to be a big disappointment. He should realize that there’s a reason the rest of the guys turned the damn thing down. It’s a curse. I don’t even know why EA Sports picked him in the first place, to tell you the truth. He’s not even that great. What, was Olindo Mare not available?”

For Young, the opportunity to pose for the cover of Madden was too good to pass up. A huge fan of the popular game series, Young often fantasized about seeing his likeness on the cover but never dreamed it would happen for real.

“Well I feel like I’ve finally arrived,” Young told reporters on Tuesday. “I mean, getting your face on the cover of Madden is, like, unbelievable. It’s the Holy Grail. I can’t tell you how many times I played the game as a teenager and daydreamed about being on the cover. It’s just flattering that they would choose me. They must really think highly of old Vince. I wonder who their fourteenth choice was.”

Copyright 2007, The Brushback - Do not reprint without permission. This article is satire and is not intended as actual news.