I'm going to really have to question the designation of the "Legend" category, especially in relation to the actual LEGENDS that are present - or even more those that aren't. This sounds more like another sloppy ESPN creation than anything.
You have JOE MONTANA (OK, no problem at all there) as a legend...but you have Ron Rivera? WHAT?!?! For "Legend"? What was Maury Buford not available? Seriously, there are TONS of guys in the HOF that could have been chosen for the Bears to put on that list.
Speaking of that, while some of the guys included are legit, there are SEVERAL missed "Legends" that would have been a far better choice for many of these.
This leads to me to believe:
1 - There is no one with INTELLIGENCE that actually can compile a bona-fide list of LEGENDS (or at the very least ONE from each team) working for the EA Sports Team of developers, and so they went with the first guy for each team that came to mind - in which case the term LEGENDS would not necessarily apply...maybe "Historic" would be a better choice.
2 - There are many of the guys that are on the LEGENDS list simply because they couldn't get the "rights" to include others that would be true blue LEGENDS, so they just did the best they could and got a guy from each team in order to fill out the bracket. Again, if this was the case, then the term LEGEND should not be used there either.
3 - The EA guys believe the people who are voting are too young to actually KNOW any of the real LEGENDS that could be present on this list otherwise, so they just went for the lowest common denominator. They mailed it in and picked the most likely guy from each team that the voting public (ie: young folks most likely) would have a shot at knowing.
4 - They are MANIPULATING the vote. This is the most likely (in my view anyway) in order for the development team's PREFERRED guy to have a better shot at winning. Certain individuals may have purposely been left off this popularity contest so as to NOT win. I mean seriously, if they put a REAL TRUE LEGENDS bracket together, does anyone really think guys like Mean Joe or Jim Brown or Walter Payton or Earl Campbell etc wouldn't fare better than some of these others that are on the list? If you keep guys like that off of it then the guy you WANT to win can't lose to 'em.
People could vote AGAINST their own guys as to not incur the wrath of the "Madden Curse" also. There should be a rule though that if you have been on the cover previously that you are ineligible.
There is no way that some of the guys on the list should be there. Others, such as Ozzie Newsome (one of my personal favs by the way) I can see, but seriously - Tedy Bruschi? Dude made ONE Pro Bowl his entire career. ONE. Not even the best player on those 2000s NE teams even if they HAD to pick one from that time (which they didn't of course).
Anyway, I am in the camp that for the Anniversary Edition of the game that John Madden himself should grace the cover. It is a celebratory edition right? Maybe have Madden in color in the center flanked by guys like George Halas or Vince Lombardi or John Unitas in black and white.
I could go on with this for days...