There is a myth that being on the cover of Sports Illustrated is the kiss of death. In fact back in '02 SI had a cover story on that very cover story.
Now being on the cover of SI was not a particular trial for Michael Jordan but look at this list of those who did not fare so well after being on the cover of the mag:
Notable incidences
* August 16, 1954: Eddie Mathews is the first person to appear on the cover of Sports Illustrated. The Milwaukee Braves snapped a nine-game winning streak and a broken hand later causes Mathews to miss seven games.
* January 31, 1955: Skier Jill Kinmont suffers a near-fatal crash at Alta, Utah the same week that she appears on the cover, and is left paralyzed from the chest down.
* November 18, 1957: Clendon Thomas Oklahoma Sooner appears on the cover, along with others on the Sooner sideline, with the headline "Why Oklahoma is Unbeatable." The next game of that season Oklahoma lost, ending their NCAA Division I record, 47 game winning streak, to Notre Dame.
* February 13, 1961: 16 year old Laurence Owen, the 1961 U.S. National and North American Figure Skating Champion appears on the cover as "America's Most Exciting Girl Skater" is killed in a plane crash near Brussels, Belgium just two days later on February 15, 1961 en route to the World Figure Skating Championships in Prague, Czechoslovakia.
* June 9, 1969: Lee Trevino appears on the cover as part of a preview to the U.S. Open. The defending champion fails to make the cut.
* December 5, 1977: Earl Campbell and the 11-0 Texas Longhorns appear on the cover. They lose their next game, the Cotton Bowl to Notre Dame.
* July 30, 1984: Pittsburgh Steelers linebacker Jack Lambert appeared on the cover with an interview with the headline "The Man of Steel." Lambert would miss most of the 1984 season with a turf toe injury and subsequently retired.
* September 26, 1988: Dwight Evans appears on the cover and goes 4-30 in a two-week span.
* January 13, 1997: Mark Brunell of the Jacksonville Jaguars and Kerry Collins of the Carolina Panthers appear on the cover as their respective teams advance to the playoffs. Both teams lose the same week.
* In September 2009, pre-season Top 10 teams Oklahoma State and Ole Miss both lost after being featured on the cover of Sports Illustrated.
* November 9, 2009: Iowa's Derrell Johnson-Koulianos, appears on the front cover with the words "still perfect." Iowa goes on to lose the following Saturday to Northwestern ending the longest winning streak in school history.
* October 11, 2003: In the midst of each league's respective League Championship Series, both the Chicago Cubs and Boston Red Sox were featured on dual covers to that week's issue. Both teams would go on to suffer great collapses, as the Florida Marlins beat the Cubs and the New York Yankees beat the Red Sox; allowing both teams to advance to the World Series.
* January 11 2010, Miles Austin of the Dallas Cowboys was on the cover, Dallas lost the Divisional Playoff Game to the Minnesota Vikings.
* In January 2010, Brett Favre was on the cover with the headline "Favre on Fire" before the NFC Championship Game and lost. Mark Sanchez was on the cover in the Northeast and lost the AFC Championship Game.
* In January 2010, Kentucky point guard John Wall appeared on the cover under the headline "The Great Wall." The next week undefeated Kentucky was upset on the road by 11-8 South Carolina in a game where Wall was outplayed by Gamecocks' point guard Devon Downey.
* In February 2010, downhill skier and Olympic gold-medal-hopeful Lindsey Vonn injured her leg the same week as she appeared on the cover. Vonn suffered a severe bruise on her right shin following a crash during training Feb. 2. Vonn later won Gold in the Olympics that year.
* In March 2010, star of the Gonzaga Bulldogs basketball team Matt Bouldin suffered a poor performance and serious loss to the Syracuse Orange in the second round of the NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Championship tournament. Bouldin appeared on the cover of Sports Illustrated issue on March Madness that month.
In fact there were six covers put out for March Madness:
Syracuse Orange
Villanova Wildcats
Kansas University Jayhawks
Ohio State Buckeyes
Kentucky Wildcats
Gonzaga Bulldogs
They all, as in all, lost.
Now if we could only get Stephen Harper on the cover of Sports Illustrated all would be well.
WFDS
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