Hey Cleveland, get ready for another excuse for why you never win anything: Browns running back Peyton Hillis is the face of Madden NFL 12. Hillis was announced Wednesday as the winner of the ESPN.com fan vote, garnering 66 percent of the vote in the final against Philadelphia Eagles quarterback Michael Vick. When asked what he thought about getting the cover, Hillis seemed to forget how words work, saying he was “excited” and that he’s “always looked up to” Michael Vick. Which is, you know, sort of weird.

Regarding that whole “curse” thing:

“For people to believe in this so-called curse, I can’t wait to prove people wrong,” he said. “From what I believe and where I am in my spiritual life, it would be good to prove them wrong in that sense.”

Fun observation of the day: Peyton Hillis thinks the Madden Curse has something to do with spirituality. Put Deepak Chopra on the cover of Madden 13, he’ll prove them wrong!

EA avoids an inevitable controversy by pulling Hillis on the cover, and pleases the grass roots types who supported him through Facebook and Twitter campaigns, pushing him through over higher seeds like Aaron Rodgers and Matt Ryan. It makes sense for the no-nonsense, smash-mouth Hillis to be on the cover of a football game, as Michael Vick’s time in Philadelphia performing for remorseless, groaning monsters and experience murdering dogs makes him a better fit for Resident Evil 6.

Electronic Arts’s bracket, designed to select a cover athlete for the next Madden game, has finally reached its championship round. Browns running back Peyton Hillis and Eagles quarterback Michael Vick are the last two standing. As Ufford so eloquently pointed out, “The blackest player in the whitest position versus the whitest player in the blackest position. That’s marvelous.” Indeed.

The intrigue picks up here as Vick is only one vote away from making his second Madden cover, an unprecedented feat. Is Hillis, a lesser-known running back from a smaller market who probably likes dogs but not in that way, a formidable challenge in the polls? Peyton faced little adversity in the first two rounds before bettering Aaron Rodgers in semifinal voting, 61 percent to A-Rodg’s 39 percent.

Vick, conversely, seems to have completely rehabilitated his public image since returning to the NFL in 2009. The Eagles slapped the franchise tag on Vick, and he’ll play in what’s essentially a second straight walk year, provided that any football is played in 2011. I’m predicting that Vick will make the cover of “Madden NFL 12,” and cap off an amazing public comeback. And then he’ll probably get a sandwich or something, because achievement makes everyone hungry.