February 14, 2007 - Shaun Alexander struts into swanky club Cameo in South Beach for the 13th annual Madden Bowl and all I can think is this: Does the Madden Curse carry over to the Xbox 360?

"If you see me fall to the ground with broken fingers after my game, then you know the Curse is real," laughs the former MVP and current Madden cover athlete. But does the Curse actually exist? Alexander isn't a believer (or at least he won't admit it). "At the end of the day, it's better to be hurt and on the cover than it is to be hurt and not on the cover."

Alexander is not only the cover athlete, though, he's a walking, trash talking Madden lifer.
"Madden is like that mark of excellence that shows you arrived," says Alexander. "Not only am I on the cover this year but I'm the first guy to be on the cover of both the college and pro games. Those are goals that I set. You want to dominate things in college, you want to do dominate things in the pros so that you could be the Madden guy. This is a proud time for me. I remember at the beginning of last season, I actually thought to myself, I'm going to be so good Madden comes calling for me."

But Alexander wasn't taking anything for granted in the Madden tournament. He knew there were seven other NFL players signed up who have been practicing day and night for their shot at the Madden trophy, a prize of silver from Tiffany's worth about three grand.

If it was me, I'd melt it down or sell it, but to these guys, it was all about bragging rights.

"When we play Madden back home," says Alexander "the loser has to do pushups or situps or run around the block. Running around the block was like the worst humiliation you could ever have, you know you disgraced yourself at my house if we made you run around the block. I'm going to keep things cordial tonight, though. I won't make Chad Johnson run around South Beach if I beat him."

And it's a good thing, as Ocho Cinco entered the club with his game face on, showing up by himself, camping his body next to a 360 and practicing the same plays for over an hour before the tournament even started.

Other participants included Clinton Portis, Carson Palmer, Willis McGahee, Mario Williams, defending champ Alex Smith of the Bucs, and just to make things confusing, Alex Smith of the 49ers.

By the time the chain gang of Bengals showed up to support their QB and wideout, everyone was ready to make predictions on the tournament.

T.J. Houshmandzadeh picked Chad, Larry Johnson (who last season beat Chad in a game to win the Bengal receiver's chopper) was also taking the Johnson to win it all.

But Willis McGahee had other ideas. "I think Chad can take it if he doesn't play me. If he has to play me, he's not winning tonight."

And McGahee is a serious threat to any gaming tournament (he once put up over 100 points in a game of Madden against Ahman Green!). "I probably play three hours of Madden a day when I'm into it" admits the Bills back, even though Madden isn't even his favorite game. "Halo is something different, I can play that all night. That's one-on-one combat. I look forward to that. Nothing tops Halo, but tonight I need to forget all that and concentrate on my Madden. Last year I lost to Alex Smith, so I'm looking forward to a rematch."

One player who wasn't so confident stepping in to the tournament was quarterback Carson Palmer. He's a big gamer, but when he heard how much some of his competitors were practicing, his only hope was to make it out of the first round.

"I'm a big gamer, a big Xbox guy so I play a lot of Halo, a lot of Gears of War," Palmer told me before his first game started. "I love Tiger Woods, love Madden. I actually don't play with the Bengals a whole lot, though. I like to play with Philly. They have a good defense, great quarterback, great running back…that's my team. Thing is, I already know I can't hang with Chad (Johnson) in Madden. He's one of the best Madden players I've seen. If this was a Gears of War tournament, I think I could win, but Madden, I might be in some trouble. These guys play nonstop."

Palmer's first round opponent was the only other quarterback in the tournament, Alex Smith of the 49ers. When I asked Smith about his favorite Madden team of all time, he pointed across the room at Daunte Culpepper who was making his way upstairs.



"Back in the day, I used to play with Minnesota. The combination of Culpepper and Moss was unstoppable. That was my team."