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Surprisingly this is only our second list of curses – which, considering the vast number of them around, is quite amazing. In this list, rather than looking at generic curses from the ages, we are looking at 10 specifically sport related curses. We are starting with the well known Curse of the Bambino and moving on to some you may not be so familiar with.
In perhaps the most famous of sports curses, the Red Sox decision to sell Babe Ruth to the Yankees in 1920 brought down an 83-year championship drought. Before the trade, the Red Sox had won five World Series, the Yankees none. From the trade to 2003, the Yankees won 26 series, the Sox zero. The curse’s reputation was enhanced by the Red Sox repeatedly coming close and falling short. The team made four World Series appearances (1946,1967,1975,1986) and each went the full seven games. In 1986, the Red Sox were one out away from winning the Series in six games when the tying run scored on a wild pitch, followed by Mookie Wilson’s ground ball rolling through Bill Buckner’s legs to put the Mets ahead. In game seven, the Sox took an early 3-0 lead only to blow it and lose 8-5. The curse finally ended in 2004. First, the Red Sox beat the Yankees in the American League Championship Series despite losing the first three games. They then swept the Cardinals in the World Series. The Sox added another Series win in 2007 with a sweep of the Colorado Rockies.
Philadelphia had long had a policy of not allowing buildings higher than the statue of city founder William Penn that stands on top of City Hall. This ended in 1987 with the completion of One Liberty Place, which is nearly 400 feet taller than City Hall. Penn apparently responded to his demotion by cursing Philly’s pro sports teams. Over the next 20 years, the Flyers lost the Stanley Cup twice (1987,1997), the Phillies lost the World Series (1993), the 76ers lost the NBA Finals (2001) and the Eagles lost the Super Bowl (2004). In 2007, when the Comcast Center became Philadelphia’s tallest building, workers tried to break the curse by attaching a figurine of Penn to the final beam. It worked, as the Phillies won the World Series the next year.
When the Hanshin Tigers won the 1985 Japan Championship Series, celebrating fans in Osaka grabbed a statue of Colonel Sanders from a Kentucky Fried Chicken and threw it off a bridge into a canal. Over the next 17 years, the Tigers finished last in their league 10 times, inspiring a rumor that the team would never win another championship until the Colonel’s statue is recovered. The Tigers won League Championships in 2003 and 2005 only to lose the Japan Series. Before too much blame is given to the Colonel, it should be noted that the Tigers had earlier gone 21 years between League Championships (1964-85) without any known curse affecting them. The statue was recently discovered on March 10, 2009, by a construction crew building a new boardwalk.
When the Giants left the Polo Grounds at Coogan’s Bluff in New York City for San Francisco in 1957, betrayed fans reportedly hexed the team so it would never win a World Series away from New York. The Giants have not won the Series since 1954, despite National League pennants in 1962, 1989 and 2002. Furthermore, in two of those Series, games in San Francisco were delayed by nature’s wrath. Game 6 of the ‘62 Series was held up three days by extremely heavy rains and Game 3 of the ‘89 Series was postponed 10 days by a massive earthquake that damaged the Giants’ home field, Candlestick Park.
During Game 2 of the 1992 Stanley Cup, the Los Angeles Kings held a 2-1 lead over the Montreal Canadiens. As the game was winding down, Candiens coach Jacques Demers became suspicious of the curvature of the stick of Kings defenseman Marty McSorley and asked that it be measured. Referees determined the blade was “too curved” and sent McSorely to the penalty box for two minutes for using illegal equipment. Montreal capitalized on the one-man advantage with Eric Desjarins scoring to tie the game. During overtime, Desjarins scored again to win the game for the Candiens and tie the series at one game each. Montreal won the next three games and the Stanley Cup. Since then, no other Canadian team has won the championship. Four teams got to the Stanley Cup Finals only to lose to an American rival: the Vancouver Canucks were defeated by the New York Rangers (1994), the Calgary Flames lost to the Tampa Bay Lightning (2004), the Edmonton Oilers fell to the Carolina Hurricanes (2006) and the Ottawa Senators lost to the Anaheim Mighty Ducks (2007). Granted, none of this explains why all of Canada would be punished instead of just Montreal or why the team that didn’t cheat is the victim of the curse, but no one said curses had to be either logical or fair. One Canadian team managed to find a loophole in the curse: the Quebec Nordiques moved to Denver in 1995, became the Colorado Avalanche and won Stanley Cups in 1996 and 2001.
Since 1999, the cover of the Madden NFL video game has featured a top player, many of whom have suffered injury or setback. For example, Michael Vick appeared on the cover of Madden NFL 2004 and suffered a leg injury that sidelined him for most of the 2003 season. When Donovan McNabb was chosen for the Madden 2006 cover, he declared “I don’t believe in the curse at all.” He suffered a hernia in the first game of the 2005 season, played despite the pain for eight more games, then was reinjured, opted for surgery and missed the last seven games. In 2006, Shaun Alexander, the previous season’s MVP, was featured on Madden NFL 2007 and sustained a foot injury that caused him to miss six starts. When EA Sports announced that LaDainian Tomlinson would be on the 2008 cover, superstitious fans created the website SaveLTfromMadden.com to urge him to reconsider. Tomlinson eventually declined the offer, but said it was over his payment, not concerns about the curse.
Quarterback Bobby Layne led the Detroit Lions to three NFL Championships (1952,1953,1957). Despite this, the Lions, thinking he was past his prime, traded him to the Pittsburgh Steelers in 1958. As Layne left, he reportedly declared that Detroit would not win for 50 years. Over those 50 years, the Lions have had the worst winning percentage of any NFL team and had a single post-season victory (1991). On the 50th anniversary of the trade, the curse went out with a bang as the Lions became the first NFL team to go 0-16.
According the autobiography of player Johnny Warren, during the 1970 World Cup qualifiers, Australia’s Socceroos hired a witch doctor to curse their opponents. Australia proceeded to beat Rhodesia, 3-1. However, when the players were unable to come up with the 1000 pound fee demanded by the witch doctor, he reversed the curse onto the Socceroos, who lost their next match to Israel, partly because three players fell ill during the match. In 2004, Australian comedian/filmmaker John Safran read Warren’s book and traveled to Africa to reverse the curse. He found that the original witch doctor was dead, but hired a second one who performed a rite in which he killed a chicken and splattered the blood over Saffran. The Socceroos not only qualified for the 2006 World Cup, they advanced to the second round, the best result they ever had.
William Sianis, owner of the Billy Goat Bar, brought his pet goat to Wrigley Field to watch game four of the 1945 World Series. During the 7th inning, Chicago Cubs owner Philip Wrigley personally had Sianis and the goat ejected because of complaints from other fans about the smell. A furious Sianis reportedly declared, “Them Cubs, they aren’t gonna win no more.” The Cubs proceeded to drop the next three games to lose the Series to the Detroit Tigers, prompting Sianis to send Wrigley a telegram asking “Who smells now?” The Cubs have not made it to a World Series since. Several attempts have been made to break the curse, ranging from Sianis’ nephew Billy bringing a goat onto the field to fans hanging a butchered goat from the statue of Harry Caray in Chicago. According to Sam Sianis, William’s nephew-in-law, the curse can only be lifted by the Cubs organization showing a genuine fondness for goats: allowing them into Wrigley Field because they truly want to and not simply for publicity.
According to legend, the athletes appearing on the cover of Sports Illustrated go on to experience bad luck. SI’s first cover subject, baseball player Eddie Mathews, was also the first victim of the jinx, suffering a hand injury one week later that forced him to miss seven games. Over the years, the jinx has produced losses (the 1987 baseball preview featured the Indians with the declaration ‘Believe it! Cleveland is the best team in the American League’ only for the team to lose 101 games and finish dead last), injuries (golfer Jim Venturi was named 1964’s Sportsman of the Year then spent the next season battling carpal tunnel syndrome) and even death (Pat O’Connor, pictured on the 1958 Indianapolis 500 preview issue, was killed in a fifteen car pile-up on the last lap). On the other hand, Michael Jordan appeared on the cover a record 49 times and made it through with life and limb intact. Sports Illustrated did their own analysis of the phenomenon for a 2002 issue and concluded that 37% of their cover subjects suffered a demonstrable misfortune or decline in performance following their appearance.
1 Joseph52
April 30th, 2009 at 1:10 am
Haven’t we seen many of these before? Or am I growing more senile?
2 Donna
April 30th, 2009 at 1:16 am
Great list! Love curses and stuff like that. Hope to see more on here! The Goat story really made me laugh!
)
3 Mark
April 30th, 2009 at 1:26 am
Kudos for including the Socceroos there. They really should’ve beaten Italy and been in the quarters – against Ukraine no less, we had a top 4 finish within our grasp.
But, as my father put it when Totti (I think?) put in that penalty – “Life’s a bitch.”
There were TV advertisements running for months with “the Italian football team” practising diving during their training sessions. Pure 100% gold
4 jhoyce07
April 30th, 2009 at 1:35 am
# 1 is unbelievable..tsk tsk..
5 scrumpy
April 30th, 2009 at 1:51 am
Interesting list.
It’s amazing to think anyone believes in this stuff!
6 AcidICE
April 30th, 2009 at 1:51 am
I love lists containing stuffs like this! Thanks!
How about curses in movies? That would create a great list. Like the curse of Superman?
7 Mark
April 30th, 2009 at 1:54 am
5. scrumpy : You don’t think it’s possible at all? I think you would have some very disgruntled Chicagoians who would disagree with you there…
GO ST. LOUIS!!!
8 scrumpy
April 30th, 2009 at 2:15 am
I suppose it’s possible that the thought of a curse could play on the mind of a sportsman at a critical moment in a game; forcing them to make a mistake. Maybe a self-fulfilling prophecy?
But to truly believe that a team’s fortunes have been determined by the perceived ill treatment of a goat? That’s is amazing
9 scrumpy
April 30th, 2009 at 2:19 am
that’s is also bad apostrophe use!
10 Hyla
April 30th, 2009 at 2:30 am
Great list although like Joseph52 I swear I’ve read most of these before. And at 24 I don’t think it’s the senility quite yet
The McSorley curse still haunts me to this day. As a life-long Leafs fan (Toronto) I am often reduced to cheering for another team come play-offs and always choose a Canadian team over the Americans (sorry…country pride and all). I was sooo sure Calgary had it back in 04!
Ah well, here’s hoping an American team does something illegal against us Canucks and the curse can be broken!! (that’s how these types of things work right??)
11 jajdude
April 30th, 2009 at 2:39 am
Superstitious guns on the list, g. What’s worse, a curse that remains, or grief from belief in your veins?
yo
12 Mark
April 30th, 2009 at 2:43 am
8. scrumpy : Unless it’s been disproved, it’s possible, the burden of proof works both ways. And as far as I’m concerned, I think there’s *more* than enough evidence to support something going on here
13 jfrater
April 30th, 2009 at 2:53 am
Jajadude – either I am drunk or that was your most surreal comment ever!
14 Mike Zickefoose
April 30th, 2009 at 3:05 am
need to explore another list of sports curses…I live near Cleveland and considering the last championship of the big 3 sports ( baseball, football, basketball) was in 1964, there have been tales of curses…two I have heard is that the ground where the football stadium is built was cursed and with the Cleveland Indians, it is told they were cursed by native American sham,en due to their use of the Chief Wahoo logo.
15 scrumpy
April 30th, 2009 at 3:16 am
Mark. Your burden of proof arguement is a logical fallacy.
16 stunty
April 30th, 2009 at 3:39 am
CRACKED.COM had sports curses list with some of these entries included: http://www.cracked.com/article_17209_p2.html
17 Mark
April 30th, 2009 at 4:17 am
15. scrumpy : Ok… And Led Zeppelin played music…
You wanna expand on that thought at all?
18 ronsantohof
April 30th, 2009 at 4:35 am
Also Muhammed Ali appeared on a lot of Sports Illustrated covers (at one time he and Michael Jordan were #1 & #2 on appearances) and he seemed to have a pretty good career. His Parkinson’s disease can’t be considered a curse, only an occupational hazard.
19 ronsantohof
April 30th, 2009 at 4:39 am
The Curse of the Bambino, the Steve Balboni Curse, and the 3 ex-Cubs curse were all beaten by the Curse of Hillary Clinton. The Yankees haven’t won the World Series since 2000 because of that.
20 scrumpy
April 30th, 2009 at 4:49 am
17. Mark : Nope, but I will put a curse on you.
21 Mark
April 30th, 2009 at 4:52 am
20. scrumpy : Lols, that one made me laugh. It is a stupid thing to argue over isn’t it? But you’ve got to admit that they *could* be real. I mean, how can the Cubs suck so much
22 RandomPrecision
April 30th, 2009 at 5:11 am
The curse of Billy Penn has been broken! =)
23 spidermonkey
April 30th, 2009 at 5:24 am
The picture of the plastic colonel in number 8 was well freaky. He’s gonna haunt my dreams tonight.
24 kr
April 30th, 2009 at 5:37 am
My favorite one is Bill Barilko’s curse. He was a Toronto Maple Leafs player in 1951 and scored the winning goal for the Stanely cup. After the season was over he went on a fishing trip, his plane dissapeared. The Leaf didn’t win the cup again until 1962, when Barilko’s body was found.
On another note JFrater, an almost identical list was published on cracked.com not to long ago. They go pretty hard after people they think copied them, so you should maybe check it out.
25 Lark
April 30th, 2009 at 6:04 am
As mentioned before the curses & the descriptions’ phrasing are almost identical to Cracked.com’s article (http://www.cracked.com/article_17209_p2.html).
It almost seems the “author” of this list took the Cracked articles and simply took the clever wit and sarcasm out & submitted it here. For shame.
26 Castor
April 30th, 2009 at 6:17 am
Kings and Canadiens played in 1993, not 1992.
27 samanthaf63
April 30th, 2009 at 6:26 am
I emailed the Cubs and suggested they find a delightfully fluffy and clean kid, cute as a button, dress it up in a Cubs jersey and hat (and a nappy to prevent accidents) and walk it round the bases on the field. Baby goats are totally adorable.
I didn’t even get a response, but I still think I’m right.
28 hook em horns
April 30th, 2009 at 6:27 am
As a Longhorns fan, I would like to remind everyone not to forget Vince Young on the Madden Curse list. Such promise, until the cover. Since then, he had a leg injury, massive discontent from the fans (who boos their own player?), and had a bout with depression after losing his starting job to Kerry Collins.
29 callie_
April 30th, 2009 at 6:30 am
Not to veer off course, but I think Michael Vick has alot more to worry abut than the Madden curse.
I do remember reading something about how the reason it seemed the SI/Madden curse was true was because players get put on covers at the height of theri career, when they’re super hot. Some (Michael Jordan) continue to burn but for others theres no where to go but down. Again, that’s not my theory, but it’s something to think about.
This list was really interesting. You’re having a good week, ChrisF!
30 oouchan
April 30th, 2009 at 6:59 am
Interesting list, ChrisF! I liked ths one.
My family is from the Ukraine and we are all gypsys…so curses are natural.
My great-grandmother didn’t want to have boys (not sure why) and she put a curse on her bloodline that no one would have a boy. She had all girls and her girls had girls…and so on. So far, no boys…even for me.
31 deano
April 30th, 2009 at 8:54 am
why are american sports so interesting!
all we have in england is stories about rugby and they’re not funny they’re just about horrific injury.
32 A-Damn
April 30th, 2009 at 11:51 am
@31. There was a guy that played hooker on my high school’s rugby team. The scrum collapsed during game and he landed on the kid. This is a very common occurrence, but thought that it was relevant, considering that the guy that fell on him was 6’1″ and about 280lbs. He landed with the full weight of his body focused on his elbow, which happened to be landing on the kid’s face. It caved in the entire left side of his face, had to have a heli come in to airlift him to the hospital.
33 jfrater
April 30th, 2009 at 1:40 pm
argh! Downtime AGAIN. I have rebooted the servers. Rest assured we are working on a final solution for this – coming soon.
34 Ryan
April 30th, 2009 at 2:20 pm
@ jfrater: I just sent you an email. Just in case you don’t check often.
35 Shifty
April 30th, 2009 at 2:22 pm
Nice list ChrisF, you should write a list on sports superstitions.
36 The_Snowdog
April 30th, 2009 at 2:25 pm
Ahhh the Curse of Billy Penn…
Thankfully for my Phillies that curse seems to be broken
Philadelphia Phillies – 2008 World Champions!
Now if the Flyers, Sixers, and Eagles can get out from any curse they have life would be sweet
37 General Tits Von Chodehoffen
April 30th, 2009 at 2:36 pm
Best list in the past few days. LETS GO STEELERS!
38 jfrater
April 30th, 2009 at 3:08 pm
Ryan – got it and replied – thanks
39 jfrater
April 30th, 2009 at 3:53 pm
I am going to be very pleased when we move servers and get these problems fixed once and for all.
40 GForce
April 30th, 2009 at 4:54 pm
It was 86 years from when Boston won in 1918 to 2004, not 83 like mentioned above.
A very similar article was on Cracked a while back.
41 mwhaha
April 30th, 2009 at 6:00 pm
I’ve read this list before… somewhere.
42 mwhaha
April 30th, 2009 at 6:00 pm
yep, gforce, cracked. thats where i saw it.
43 Courtney
April 30th, 2009 at 6:03 pm
kr: I was thinking the same thing when I was reading this! I even have the song stuck in my head now. For anyone interested, the Canadian band The Tragically Hip wrote a song about Bill Barilko, it’s called Fifty Mission Cap. The lyrics are fairly descriptive about what happened.
44 Famousamos
April 30th, 2009 at 6:11 pm
Coming from Buffalo, our city has had the misfortume of losing the Buffalo Braves (basketball) in the 70′s to the Los Angeles (they have since been called the Clippers).
Our hockey team, the Sabres, hashad some freakish luck, first playign the Flyers in the Stanley Cup Finals in the mid 70′s with one game played in the fog, in 1999, Brett Hull ended the Sabres hopes for their first championship by scoring the winner with his foot in the crease, and just a few years ago, the Sabres had the chance to go to the Finals against the Carolina Hurricanes, if it weren’t for a rash if injuries including defenseman Jay Mckee. Jay ended up contracting an infection from what has been said playing with dirty, old and apparently lucky shin guards that infected a cut on his leg. The Sabres were down to their what seemed like their 7th or 8th defensemen and they just couldn’t beat the Canes in that 7th game, losing 4-2.
The worst though, which isn’t often mentioned or talked about in Buffalo and parts of Western New York, is Super Bowl 25, the Bills first consecutive Super Bowl appearance of four. The Bills played the Giants, in which Bill Parcells and ahem, Bill Belecheck (sp) constructed a perfect defensive scheme to contain Jim Kelly and the K-gun offense. The Bills had a chance to win it. A certain Kicker lined up for a 47 yarder, no wind, perfect conditions, a whole city on his shoulders and the rest was history.
45 Famousamos
April 30th, 2009 at 6:13 pm
I’m gonna have another beer, lol.
46 Klingon
April 30th, 2009 at 6:16 pm
Interesting list.
47 Dylan O
April 30th, 2009 at 6:24 pm
Great list hoping to see a 2nd one!!
48 raulslist
April 30th, 2009 at 6:35 pm
I’m really surprised Cleveland or Buffalo didn’t make it on the list.
Consider http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Curse_of_Rocky_Colavito and http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sports-related_curses#Cleveland_sports_curse
Cleveland’s also the most-tortured sports city in America according to ESPN (http://proxy.espn.go.com/espn/page2/story?page=tortured/cleveland)
Buffalo has also had its share of bad luck:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sports-related_curses#Buffalo_Sports_Curse
(Also, see Famousamos’ post above)
49 Anticarly2
April 30th, 2009 at 7:17 pm
I agree with Lark. I’ve noticed some lists to be very similar to Cracked articles.
50 genaroian_13
April 30th, 2009 at 8:03 pm
spooky
51 bigski
April 30th, 2009 at 8:47 pm
Famousamos-#44-So what your saying is Buffalo is almost as famous as Minnesota at loosing Superbowls?
52 homer simpson
April 30th, 2009 at 11:16 pm
the curse of the bambino was 86 years not 83…
53 Katiebug
April 30th, 2009 at 11:59 pm
Almost all of these were on a list I read not too long ago… most likely Cracked, but possibly Oddee..
tsk, tsk listverse.
im dissapointed.
54 Katiebug
May 1st, 2009 at 12:02 am
That’s what I get for posting before reading comments.
It was cracked.
JFrater, you should think about taking this list down…
55 Skydiver
May 1st, 2009 at 6:53 am
Curse or coninsidence… which is more likely?
Number 6? Seriously? I’m Canadian and never heard of that “curse”. I guess the fact that Canada has six teams in the NHL and the US has twenty-four has nothing to do with our current drought.
56 Skydiver
May 1st, 2009 at 6:54 am
*coincidence…. can we please have an “edit” option for typos?
57 mpdwag
May 1st, 2009 at 7:27 am
What about the “Campbell’s Soup curse”? Apparently, NFL players that have done ads for the soup company experience either personal or team misfortune.
58 scrumpy
May 1st, 2009 at 9:38 am
What about the Blackburn Rovers FA Cup winning team of 1884?
They’re all dead.
Coincidence or curse? You decide.
59 tripsyman
May 1st, 2009 at 11:55 am
Sports curses only occur in North America it seems ( 1 exception being Australia). Seriously this list so ignores the other 4 continents it is unreal. I also think you could look at any losing streak and pair it with something unconnected ( colonel sanders…..) happening at the same time and call it a curse. Somebody curse Celtic FC please.. lol
60 DirtyMaggieMae
May 1st, 2009 at 12:05 pm
A nice list…or rather it would be if it wasn’t mostly ripped off of a cracked.com article that ran less than a month ago: http://www.cracked.com/article_17209_insane-sports-stories-that-will-make-you-believe-in-curses.html.
Some of the lines are even direct quotes. I doubt you had even heard of the Socceroo incident before you read the cracked article (I’m pretty certain that is your source for most of this. Plus, I’m pretty sure the rest of the items shown on here can be found in other listverse lists). I’m not berating you for copying so much as I am for not giving credit where it is due.
61 AnonX
May 1st, 2009 at 2:20 pm
People seriously believe this shit? ….
62 Plagarism
May 1st, 2009 at 5:43 pm
Way to blatantly and shamelessly rip off Cracked.
Disgraceful.
63 cammysmith1690
May 2nd, 2009 at 8:32 am
wot a load of shite!!
64 kent
May 3rd, 2009 at 7:58 pm
Brett Favre, quarterback for the Green Bay Packers and New York Jets secured infamy by hitting two of these head-on; the Madden Curse and the Sports Illustrated Cover Jinx. After being named Sports Illustrated Sportsman of the Year in 2007, and making the upcoming Madden game in his Green Bay Packer uniform, Favre announced his retirement from football; his Hall of Fame career in Green Bay confirmed his legacy as one of the most endearing professional athletes of all time in the U.S. The SI issue Sportsman of the Year even had, in addition to Favre on the cover and a highly complementary article, a touching “Last Word” editorial about Favre, describing him as a warm and gracious “regular guy.” At one point even I posted a response about Favre to a List Universe List. He was a hero to me. Then the curses set in.
After retirement Favre decided to return to football. The Packers had already committed to his replacement, and impasses in negotiating a new contract with Green Bay lead Favre to look elsewhere. The New York Jets, who had a young and upcoming quarterback in Chad Pennington to lead its offense, basically tossed the younger man away – he ended up with the Miami Dolphins. The Madden game was changed to show Favre in his Jets uniform.
During the season Favre aggravated old injuries and his effectiveness began to wane – eventually he became a serious on-field liability and affected the team’s morale – the Jets, who started the season strong, missed the end of the season play-offs and Favre was shunted into a more permanent retirement. In the last game of the season, Chad Pennington’s Dolphins defeated the Jets and went on to the first game of the playoffs.
On the other hand, the Packers also suffered. One game away from the Superbowl in 2007 they managed to scrape together a 6W – 10L season in 2008.
65 muzli
May 4th, 2009 at 3:50 am
These are urban legends that should be known by everybody and nobody can claim to have any rights to any of the curses mentioned or to have known them before anyone else except for people who were directly involved in some of the curses. So, whether you read these somewhere else does not really make any difference, because, for me pesonally, it is the first time I see them. And I imagine that if I can see them somewhere else again I would be absolutely sure that they have taken them from listverse. And I would be very wrong ! !
66 Looser
May 4th, 2009 at 1:50 pm
this further proves my family’s belief that there are indeed sports gods up there some where.
haha jk
67 asyd rayne
May 5th, 2009 at 10:31 pm
the last stanley cup won by a canadian team (montreal canadiens) was in 1993 not 1992.
the day will come… the stanley cup will come home to montreal again. just wait and see!!!
68 newperson
May 6th, 2009 at 5:31 pm
trippy stuff, im not into sports but these were definately interesting to read about.
69 Kilroy
May 8th, 2009 at 1:04 pm
In regards to the Billy Penn legend, there will be a new building, bigger than the Comcast Center, finished by 2012. Who knows if they’ll use the statue trick again. Don’t know if the curse is really broken though. Sure the Phillies won the World Series, but following the Phillies came the Eagles, Flyers, and 76ers who all lost in the playoffs; Almost like Will Penn was saying “I’ll let you have this one, but that’s it.”
I myself am like an anti-curse, and yes I understand that sounds weird, but its true. With every Philly team, whenever I went to my first game for them they won, only excepting the Eagles because I’ve [surprisingly] been unable to go to one of their games. And quite possibly the Kixx as well, but in a weird coincidence, that was also the only time I went to a first game without my Aunt, it was a class field trip. Okay I’m just babbling now, lol.
70 Steve
July 4th, 2009 at 6:56 pm
The one about Mcsorley needs a little updating. The kings/Habs meet in the 93 finals.
71 Nancy
July 7th, 2009 at 10:45 pm
Huh. So the Cubs suck because of a goat. Freaky stuff.
72 erick
July 11th, 2009 at 2:55 am
the nba live cover seems to be cursed too.. specially wizard’s arenas
73 rcs
July 12th, 2009 at 8:20 pm
I saw something in world headlines once about a soccer team that was struck by lightening the article cited witchcraft. This was about 96 or so. Good list man the cubs should show a genuine affinity for goats? LoL
74 Gary
July 19th, 2009 at 9:36 pm
I am surprised that the Anaheim Stadium curse was not mentioned. The story goes that the stadium was build on an Indian burial grounds. Therefore whatever team calls that stadium home would never go to the championships. Two cases in point, The Los Angeles Rams move from the Colisium shorty after they blew the Superbowl against the Pittsburgh Steelers at the Rose Bowl, which by the way was the largest Superbowl ever attended, at over 103,000, in 1980. Keep in mind, the Rams went to the Superbowl, then they move to Anaheim stadium. There, they were chokers. In the mid 90′s they move to St.Louis and shortly after they win the Superbowl. The Second is the Angels baseball team. They do great in the regular season,then collapse in the playoffs. A good example was the 1986 pennant series again the Boston Red Sox. The then California Angels had won three games against Boston, and it was the top of the ninth. The Angels had the lead with two outs and two strikes. Donnie Moore was on the mound. Just one pitch away from going to the World Series. That pitch, the Red Sox player hit in out of the fields and the Red Sox tied the game, and won in extra innings. Sadly, Donnie commited suicide over that pitch years later. Seems like curses put you so close to breaking it, then wham, they strike! Of course the Angels did have a break in 1992. Too bad that Indian burial ground did not extend across Katella to the Honda Center.
75 smartalec
August 26th, 2009 at 6:44 pm
I hate that goat, 100 years without a world series title is crazy, and this year isnt going so good either
76 Ny
October 10th, 2009 at 2:44 am
Did I ever tell listverse of the curse of the Tigers?
Here in the UK, my team is Hull City, the Tigers. They used to play at West Park, then the manager moved them to Boothferry Park and kicked all the gipsies off inorder to build a new stadium.
Reportedly, the gipsies cursed the team, and they went on to be absolutely terrible, to the point where the manager gave up and locked the team out of the stadium.
Then, they built a new stadium, the KC stadium, in West Park and Hull City started doing better and better, and just last year, the gipsies stayed on Boothferry Park, around the same time that Hull made it into the Premier League.
Most people think this means the curse has broken, and tbh, I agree.
GO TIGERS!!!!
Ny～♪
77 sam
November 28th, 2009 at 12:48 pm
The injury to Brown may spell disaster. Ricky might be too old to be a full time back. Henne better learn to make some plays fast. They have a solid defense, but they can not do it on their own. They definitly have their work cut out for them.
78 David
December 4th, 2009 at 9:41 am
What are these guys doing? when you have a problem with your team mates, then handle it privately. Throwing a superbowl winning quarterback under the bus publically will solve nothing. At least the Raiders still stink, which is always a good thing.
79 webo
June 28th, 2010 at 1:49 am
There is also the curse of Bear Bryant. Bear was the football coach at the University of Kentucky at the same time Adolph Rupp was coaching basketball. The university gave Bryant a Zippo lighter for Christmas; they gave Rupp a Cadillac. Bear left and UK hasn't had a winning football team since.