EA Sports' "Madden NFL 15" cover vote is down to Panthers QB Cam Newton vs. Seahawks CB Richard Sherman, and Newton "called out Sherman in a 2 1/2-minute video posted to YouTube on Monday," according to Jonathan Jones of the CHARLOTTE OBSERVER. Newton, who is in the cover vote finals for the second time in three years, "challenges Sherman to a game of Madden by asking him to call a phony hotline called 'CAM PAIN.'" He says in the video, "Richard Sherman, I want to challenge you in a game of Madden. If you don’t want to play me, that is cool and that’s understandable, because these thumbs are official.” Newton also offers a parody of "Sherman’s famous post-NFC Championship interview with Erin Andrews." He says, "I’m the best gamer in the league, and when you try me with sorry gamers like that, that’s the result you get." Jones notes Newton reached the cover vote finals after defeating Colts QB Andrew Luck in the seminfinals, while Sherman topped 49ers QB Colin Kaepernick. Fans "can vote until Friday" for the cover, and the two "will appear in a 'SportsCenter' segment" at 6:00pm ET that day when the winner will be announced. Sherman's "propensity to be brash -- and backing it up on the field -- has earned him a reputation as one of the biggest trash talkers in the league." Newton’s "playful video -- one that resembles a professional wrestling promo -- gets at that brashness" (
CHARLOTTE OBSERVER, 6/4).
