Sports Illustrated Cover Jinx

Like the Madden Curse, the Sports Illustrated Cover jinx is well known. Many fans have started to watch out for their favorite players/teams from any sport, fear plaguing their minds as to what misfortune awaits.

It all started in 1954, when a picture of Eddie Mathews hitting a ball was featured. The Braves would go on to lose their game after that. And it's not always players and teams that are effected. If anyone if featured on the cover associated with sports in any way, they could become a victim as well. A notable example of this is John F. Kennedy.

Madden Curse

The Madden Curse is famous. In fact, it is perhaps one of the more well known curses in the modern day. It is right up there with the Sports Illustrated Cover Jinx.

This is, of course, referring to the Madden NFL games that get made every year. Since 1999, the game featured a well known player prominently on the cover rather than it's name sake, John Madden. This was against what the creators wanted, but it still happened. John was never effected, the curse only targeted those that took over his place as a prominent figure on the cover.

The first player to be featured on the cover was Garrison Hearst. He was breaking several records set to get into the Hall of Fame before he was honored with the cover. Then, he got the 49-ers to the playoffs. That is when it happened. He broke his ankle. Hearst was unable to play for two seasons after that, and his game was never the same. Thus, the curse claimed its first victim.