FirstCuts: Brett Favre On Madden 09 Cover

What's the best way to ensure the Madden curse is broken? Use a guy who is out of the game. That's the rumor from GameDaily: Brett Favre will be the cover athlete for Madden 09. (Editor's note: We've confirmed this rumor through an EA representative.)

Quick aside: I'd like to take this moment to gloat. When Favre retired, I found it almost unimaginable he wouldn't be on the cover. Sorry Eli, but Favre takes precedent in John Madden's world.

According to the Facebook site for Madden NFL 09, the cover athlete is expected to be announced on April 25. Moreover, a quick check of the CBS schedule for Late Show with David Letterman shows that Favre is going to appear as one of Dave's guests tonight (April 24). For the past few years, EA has used late-night shows to announce the Madden cover. Last year Jimmy Kimmel's show was used to announce Tennessee Titans quarterback Vince Young for Madden 08.

No cover image is available yet, seeing as how the game hasn't been released, but you've got to figure it's something similar to the disturbing cover you see in the upper right.

UPDATE: EA Sports president Peter Moore just posted on his blog that he’s in New York City for tonight's taping of The Late Show with David Letterman. Oh, and did we mention this picture?



So yeah, it’s not an official written confirmation from the company, but that cheesehead says about all I need to know.

SECOND UPDATE: Just got a call back from EA Sports. It's official: Brett Favre will be on the cover of Madden 09 and it will be announced tonight on Letterman.

FRIDAY (FINAL) UPDATE: EA dropped the official cover on us. Here's your first look. Now start that tearaway calendar, counting down until Aug. 12.

This post originally appeared on the Sporting Blog. For more, see The Sporting Blog Archives.