Detroit Lions wide receiver Calvin Johnson made it clear today that he doesn't believe in the "Madden curse." He also made it clear that he wants to beat Cam Newton in the Madden 13 cover vote. He explained that he wants to be on the cover for a variety of reasons.

"There's definitely a lot of monetary support that comes from EA, and doing things with them, that's going to help out my foundation tremendously," Johnson said. "They like some of things I've been doing in my neighborhood back at home, and I'm starting to transfer some of those things up here. That's definitely going to be a stepping stone to start doing some of that stuff."

Aside from it being an honor, Johnson thinks being on the cover would be good for the city of Detroit, the Lions and his foundation. Plus, it would be nice to beat Newton, who posted a video "calling out" Johnson the other day. Megatron and his teammates are apparently planning a video of their own to respond to it.

All the receivers are planning a video response to Cam Newton and Gronkowski videos. They are getting it together today. Stay tuned.

— Tim Twentyman (@ttwentyman) April 24, 2012

As of Monday morning, Newton had a "small but vulnerable lead" on Johnson. Click here to vote.