Please take Saquon Barkley off the Madden 26 cover

USA Today

2 days ago

Please take Saquon Barkley off the Madden 26 cover
Let me start this off by saying that Saquon Barkley's Madden cover looks awesome. There's no question about that.
It's Barkley flying through the air doing the reverse hurdle with the help of some strings this time, instead of just purely defying gravity on his talents alone.
As soon as Barkley pulled that move off against the Jaguars last season, I knew that he'd be the cover athlete for the next Madden game no matter how the Eagles' season ended. The move was too awesome. It was immediately added to the game, for crying out loud. From that very moment, everyone else was coming in second place for the cover.
Learning Barkley's status as this year's cover athlete was simultaneously blissful and devastating for me, as an Eagles fan.
Seeing one of your favorite players on your favorite team pull off the impossible is great. Recognizing that his moment would be honored and immortalized through the rest of time with a Madden cover is pretty cool. This is a game I grew up playing. He's the first Eagle to grace the cover in 20 years since Donovan McNabb did for Madden 2006. That's awesome.
But, on the other hand, that's precisely how I know the Madden curse is real.
Before you call me ridiculous, just hear me out! It's a real thing, guys. McNabb tore his ACL in November of 2006 after being named the Madden cover athlete. You can't tell me this isn't a thing. My team has lived through it.
And, yes, I know that in recent years the curse hasn't been as strong as it once was. But tell that to Christian McCaffrey, who was named the Madden 25 cover athlete only to have his season go up in flames because of injury.
Is Saquon Barkley great enough to avoid the curse? I'd love to believe so as a fan. But I'm also not here to take any chances. I'd like to see my team repeat for the first time in my life. I don't need Madden getting in the way of that.
EA Sports, I will never forgive you if this season goes up in flames.
A dynasty is done
Honestly, I can't believe I'm typing this. But the greatest dynasty in modern college sports has come to an end.
On Monday, Texas Tech shocked the world, beating Patty Gasso's Oklahoma Sooners in the Women's College World Series semifinals.
Here's Cory Woodroof on why this is so shocking:
"Since there was not a WCWS in 2020, the last non-Oklahoma winner was 2019's UCLA. The Sooners have won every title in this decade.
Only three other schools (UCLA, Florida State and Florida) have won WCWS titles since 2013 since Oklahoma has won seven national titles in that span."
To be very clear, Texas Tech is absolutely awesome. The story is more about how fantastic that team is rather than Oklahoma's failure. Seeing NiJaree Canady pitch in the WCWS is going to be a blast. She's the reason Tech has advanced this far — she's thrown every pitch for the team on their path through the WCWS. She'll need to be just as excellent in the championship as Texas Tech takes on Texas.
What a run for Tech. What an ending for Oklahoma. This is what sports are all about.
Don't talk about NBA Finals ratings
The very moment we had an Indiana Pacers and Oklahoma City Thunder NBA Finals locked in, the conversation online has shifted away from basketball and toward TV ratings.
Because we're about to watch two small-market teams play each other at the NBA's mountaintop, there's been a lot of hand-wringing about whether people will actually watch this series or if it'll be the first NBA Finals broadcast solely on NBA TV (of course, that's not happening).
But that entire conversation is so fruitless. Robert Zeglinski spells it out here:
"Why do you care about the NBA's potentially low finals ratings? Do you watch high-level sports purely so you can feel like you're one of the NBA's C-suite executives? Do you like to imagine you get to wear a fancy little suit to the NBA's offices in Manhattan? Do the NBA's profit margins really "worry" you more than any of the basketball being played? Actually, do you even care about the basketball, or do you just want to diminish two small-market franchises and fanbases finally experiencing a hint of success in a league with a history of nonexistent parity? Does downplaying the inherent, wonderful magic of championship-caliber sports teams, which is why most of us well-adjusted people watch, make you feel like a better person? Why?
You know what? All of that is rhetorical. Don't even bother answering. Instead, grow up and stop hemming and hawing about something that has nothing to do with how you should experience any sort of sports."
Ratings don't matter — whether we're talking about the NBA or any other league. Watch the games or don't. Either way, there's no skin off your back.
Quick hits: More Stefon Diggs drama ... Paul Skenes trade rumors? ... and more
— Will the Patriots cut Stefon Diggs for his boat video? Charles Curtis has more here.
— Here's Bryan Kalbrosky on Jeff Passan walking back Paul Skenes trade rumors.
— Rebecca Lobo is urging Fever fans not to panic in Caitlin Clark's absence. Cory Woodroof has more.
— The Indiana Pacers should really be thanking the Phoenix Suns right now.
— Bill Simmons is ripping Pablo Torre for his reporting on Bill Belichick and Jordon Hudson.
— Jac Caglianone's reaction to being called up to the Royals is perfect. Andrew Joseph has more.
That's a wrap, folks. Thanks for reading. Peace.
-Sykes ✌️
This was For The Win's daily newsletter, The Morning Win. Did a friend recommend or forward this to you? If so, subscribe here.