newsmakers

April 23, 2010 at 12:00a.m.

newsmakers

Brees is cover model for Madden NFL

Drew Brees has another prize to put next to his Super Bowl MVP trophy: He’s the cover model for this year’s edition of the “Madden NFL” video game.

EA Sports announced Thursday that the New Orleans Saints quarterback would be featured on the front of “Madden NFL 11,” the latest installment of the best-selling football franchise.

Brees, who led his team to a 31-17 victory over the Indianapolis Colts in this year’s Super Bowl, said landing the cover of “Madden” was “a great way to cap off an amazing year.”

The “Madden” gig is one of the most coveted honors in sports — even though it has been connected to a much-discussed curse. Such superstars as Donovan McNabb, Michael Vick and Shaun Alexander suffered serious injuries during the season each appeared on the cover.

Brees isn’t worried. “I believe in fate, and if it’s meant to be, it’s meant to be,” he said.

Pioneer of punk music laid to rest in London

LONDON

Hundreds of people have lined the streets of London for the funeral procession of punk pioneer Malcolm McLaren.

The impresario and former manager of the Sex Pistols died of cancer April 8 at the age of 64.

Spectators applauded as a horse-drawn carriage containing a black coffin bearing the words “Too fast to live, too young to die” rolled through north London’s Camden Town on Thursday.

Sid Vicious’s version of “My Way” blasted from a double-decker bus inscribed with McLaren’s slogan “Cash from Chaos” as the procession made its way to Highgate Cemetery. McLaren will be buried there in a private ceremony.