Browns running back wins ESPN "SportsNation" popular vote over Philadelphia QB Michael Vick.
View full sizePeyton Hillis' breakout season in 2010 was enough to earn him the fans' vote for the Madden '12 cover, announced Wednesday.CLEVELAND, Ohio -- The Cleveland Browns' cursed streak is over. But now there's the Madden Curse to contend with.
Peyton Hillis will grace the cover of Madden NFL '12, EA Sports announced Wednesday on ESPN2's "SportsNation." Hillis won the honor by popular vote over a five-week online competition culminating in a final against Philadelphia quarterback Michael Vick.
Hillis had 66 percent of nearly 1.1 million fan votes in the finals against Vick. Throughout the competition, about 13 million votes were logged.
"It's pretty overwhelming," Hillis said in a phone interview. "This whole process has been really unexpected. I've got to give it up to the Cleveland fans. It shows how big Cleveland fans are to the players, and I'm going to try my best for them."
Hillis becomes the first Brown to appear on the cover of Madden. The 25-year-old from Arkansas rushed for 1,177 yards in his first season with the team in 2010, becoming the first white running back to amass more than 1,000 yards rushing in 25 years.
The Browns have not won a championship in 47 years, so this is a minor victory for the luckless team. However, Hillis now must contend with the legendary "Madden Cover Curse." Players who appear on the cover of the video game have typically suffered a decline in production the following season, often because of injury.
Hillis, however, laughed at the suggestion of a curse, while EA Sports senior product manager Anthony Stevenson contends the game's previous bad luck and the troubles experienced by the Browns franchise will cancel each other out.
"If you put the two together, the Browns make the playoffs," Stevenson said. "I'm going to go ahead and go with that."
Hillis' selection was buoyed by a landslide of Browns fans votes, according to Stevenson.
"Peyton won pretty handily and there's no doubt it was thanks to the fans of Cleveland and Arkansas and all his other fans out there," he said.
The cover not only provides Hillis with publicity, but comes with $125,000 in return for about a week of promotional duties. One of his first obligations will be to present the Top 10 on Thursday's Late Show with David Letterman.
Source: http://www.cleveland.com/browns/index.ssf/2011/04/browns_rb_peyton_hillis_to_app.html
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