Madden 13 Cover Vote Finals

For NFL fans it has all come down to this. Two superstar players must enter, but only one can have the dubious honor of being crowned the Madden NFL 13 cover athlete. Will your teams' star player win and thus be put on injury watch, or will he narrowly miss becoming the next Peyton Hillis and instead become Aaron Rodgers?

The largest Madden cover vote has finally entered its home stretch, and it's down to last year's Rookie of the Year, Cam Newton, and a guy who's been nicknamed Megatron. Calvin Johnson might not be capable of enslaving a race of transforming robots, but the guy sure can catch some touchdowns.

Starting first with a friendly vote amongst teammates, and then weeding out the likes of Drew Brees and Tim Tebow (who was competing as a Bronco at the time), this cover vote saw some prime candidates fall early, while other expected big names flourished. Still, with anything involving the Madden cover, one has to wonder how much was fan enthusiasm and how much was sabotage.

For Aaron Rodgers, who was once again beat out by a non-QB coming off a hot year, missing the Madden 13 cover means so much more than actually being on it. The Madden Curse has become such a real fear for fans that they will go out of their way to ensure their favorites don't win, kind of like American Idol.

It's actually pretty interesting to look at Madden cover athlete voting and wonder how much is comprised of fans simply selecting the other option. Last year's tournament-style bracket was EA Sports' best hope of taking the curse out of commission, but as was said before it instead took Peyton Hillis out of commission.

Regardless of intervention, here we are with two promising seasons hanging in the balance. One of them, whether it is Cam Newton or Calvin Johnson, is destined for greatness, while the other will at least have something cool to show his parents.

Who would you like to see on the cover of Madden NFL 13? Do you say that because you're a fan of the other or because you legitimately want to see them on the cover?

Madden NFL 13 is rumored to be releasing August 28, 2012 for the PS3 and Xbox 360.