40 Acres Sports

IGN.com interviews Vince Young about Madden, the curse, and the Titans.

Here’s a short video of Vince Young’s appearance on Jimmy Kimmel Live last night to announce what everyone already knew, that he was going to be on the cover of Madden 08.

This is just the first couple of minutes from Joystiq where he’s talking about the curse, I’ll get the whole interview off my TiVo tonight and post it.

The full video of the interview is now posted below:

Update: I’m having some trouble getting the TiVo file to work in any video editor after I strip off the DRM. Works in Windows Media Player so I’ll try to upload that version in the morning if I can.

Update 2: Vince’s full appearance has now been uploaded and I replaced the video in this post.

I posted a story last night that Vince Young could be the next star on the cover of Madden and this morning the Tennessean confirmed it. Young’s agent Major Adams apparently can’t keep a secret and has confirmed to the paper that Vince will be on the game’s cover.

EA Sports would not confirm that Young would be on the cover. The cover athlete will be revealed officially tonight on Jimmy Kimmel Live, where tonight’s guests include “Madden 2007 [sic] video game cover athlete (to be revealed on the show).”

In an amazing coincidence, Young’s marketing manager said that he’d be in California for the taping of tonight’s Jimmy Kimmel Live but wouldn’t give the reason for his appearance. I am reasonably confident that Vince was not just eliminated from Dancing with the Stars and is not in the band Silversun Pickups.

Congratulations are in order for Vince, and Longhorns/Titans fans can officially start worrying about the dreaded Madden Curse.

IGN.com lists their top 10 picks for who will be on the cover of EA Sports’ Madden 08 video game. Texas ex [tag]Vince Young[/tag] is their number two pick behind LaDainian Tomlinson and deservedly so. Young, who should have been on the cover of last year’s NCAA Football 07, is one of the game’s most marketable young stars. People like Vince and sports fans will buy products he’s involved with (and it’s not just Longhorn fans.) The 2008 cover boy should be announced sometime this week.

Tomlinson definitely has to be the favorite, in the last two years he’s put up two of the best seasons an NFL running back has ever had. LT has all sorts of untapped marketing potential, but maybe there’s a reason he hasn’t done much national stuff despite his superstar performance.

It would be awesome to see Vince on the cover of Madden, but is it actually a good thing? Are VY’s superhuman powers strong enough to overcome the Madden curse? We may get to find out this year.

Related Links

• EA Sports Madden 08 official site
• ESPN: Clues to the Cover
• Wikipedia: The Madden curse
• Vince Young is newest Campbell’s Chunky Soup “Mama’s boy”

Ricky Williams was on ESPN Radio’s Dan Patrick Show at the ned of last week and his interview with Dan and Keith Olbermann was incredible. Ricky sounds intelligent and introspective and I’m really rooting for him again to get that chance to prove people wrong in the NFL.

The first 15 minutes of audio is Ricky and the last 10 is Dan and Keith discussing it. Listen to the entire thing below:

It appears Ricky is finally comfortable being Ricky Williams and he’s found ways to deal with the celebrity and stress that comes with being an NFL superstar. Sounds like Dan and Keith were pretty impressed with him, and like them I hope Ricky is able to keep things together when the full pressure of the NFL comes back.

Update: Anybody else having issues with the Odeo player? If so use the player below:

The condition that caused [tag]LaMarcus Aldridge[/tag]’s dizziness and irregular heartbeat has been diagnosed as Wolff-Parkinson-White Syndrome.

Portland Trail Blazers Forward LaMarcus Aldridge underwent a series of tests today at Providence St. Vincent’s Medical Center in Portland. He was diagnosed with Wolff-Parkinson-White Syndrome (WPW) and was treated for the condition by Dr. Daniel Oseran at St. Vincent’s. The procedure was successful.

Aldridge will be monitored by a cardiologist and will miss the remainder of the season. He is expected to make a full recovery and be cleared to resume physical activity, including basketball, in the near future.

Wolff-Parkinson-White Syndrome can be serious if untreated, causing dizziness, chest palpitations, fainting, or possibly cardiac arrest. However, the procedure performed on LaMarcus is relatively simple and if successful everything should be back to normal only a day or two afterwards. Sounds like if the issue had come up earlier in the season he could have been back on the court pretty quick, but with the season winding down they went ahead and shut him down. Glad to hear it was nothing too serious and it’ll be great to see Aldridge back on the court next year.

Source

Overachieving nothing new for Major Applewhite. Good article on Major’s rise to offensive coordinator at Alabama.

LaMarcus Aldridge to undergo tests to discover source of dizziness. Could be a heart issue. Hope nothing is wrong.

Three former Longhorns will be featured as Todd McFarlane “Football Action Figures” in 2007.

Vince Young and Cedric Benson will be part of NFL Football Series 15 that will be released in September. Texas legend Earl Campbell’s figure will be released in August as a part of NFL Legends Series 3. Earl is looking pretty good in those old baby blue Houston Oilers uniforms.

The figures are six inches tall and look pretty good in photos. They’re only about $9.99 in stores so hopefully they look as good in person. (via)

PJ Tucker was released by the Toronto Raptors. Sure could’ve used him this season.