Earlier today, the folks at ESPN unveiled an NCAA tournament-style bracket to help determine which player will grace the cover of Madden '12. Thanks to ronniemac03 for pointing it out in a FanShot. There are 31 players and Seattle's "12th Man" with two halves of the bracket seeded one through sixteen. Our San Francisco 49ers are represented by Patrick Willis. Bamm Bamm is a seventh seed and is facing the tenth-seeded Twelfth Man of the Seattle Seahawks.
Division rivalries would seem to be reason enough to vote for Bamm Bamm. Anything to beat the Seachickens right? However, after thinking it over, I started to wonder whether it's the best idea to get Willis on the cover of Madden '12. It helps get him and the 49ers more exposure, but there remains the issue of the Madden Curse. It hasn't happened every year, but enough bizarre injuries and personal situations have arisen to give it some viability.
After some thinking and seeing some of the comments in the FanShot, I figured it out. We can get Bamm Bamm past the Seahawks in this first round matchup, but then hope for defeat in a later round. That way the Seahawks do not prevail, but Willis doesn't have to deal with the cover jinx. Some people may think this is some kind of paranoia, but I don't think a fanbase can be too careful when it comes to its best player. I think that is reasonable. Whatever your decision, you can check out all the other matchups over at ESPN. Also, you can only vote once from a given computer.