Fantasy Football
Draft night in somebody's basement, the waiver wire, and a running back you'd never heard of deciding whether you'd speak to your brother-in-law that week. The office league that turned every Sunday into every game at once.
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6 items
The Madden Curse
Get on the cover of Madden, get hurt. From Garrison Hearst's ankle to Michael Vick's leg to Shaun Alexander's foot, a decade of cover athletes made fans build a website begging EA to leave their guy alone.
Madden NFL
Every August a new Madden, and every year the same arguments: the rosters, the ratings, the cover, the curse. EA's football series started as "Trip's Folly" in 1988, became an annual release in 1990, and in the 2000s turned into a calendar event, complete with a tournament on Super Bowl weekend and a reality show about finding the best player in America.
New England Patriots Dynasty
A sixth-round quarterback who started the year as a backup, a coach who asked to introduce his team all at once, and three Lombardi Trophies in four years. Every AFC fan's villain for two decades pulled the biggest Super Bowl upset since Super Bowl III.
Terrell Owens
The Sharpie in the sock, the pose on the Dallas star, the sit-ups in the driveway while the cameras rolled. T.O. was one of the best receivers in football for most of a decade and the most entertaining press conference in sports, often at the same time.
Zubaz
Zebra-striped, radically baggy, elastic everywhere — the workout pants pro wrestling's Road Warriors helped dream up for guys too big for regular jeans, which somehow ended up on NFL sidelines, in JCPenney, and on your uncle at every 1991 barbecue.