People in the world of sports happen to be some of the most susceptible when it comes to believing in the supernatural. Particularly, sport fans, are engrossed in curses. Whether it was Red Sox fans and the "Curse of the Bambino" or Philadelphia sports fans blame (including me) their lack of a major sports championship since the Sixers swept the Lakers in 1983 on the fact that the downtown skyline grew taller than William Penn in 1987 when One Liberty Place skyscraper went up. Coincidentally that curse is called "The Curse of William Penn". It doesn't necessarily end there however. Fans may even go so far as to have a shrine, like the one that Eagles fan had to Terrell Owens in those ESPN commercials. And let's be honest too Eagles fans, we had something similar to that.
Sport curses range from the absurd to just plain silly. In 1945, William "Billy Goat" Sianis tried to bring his pet goat, Murphy, with him into Wrigley Field for Game 4 of the World Series. Wrigley ushers at the game said the goat was too smelly and told Sianis he had to leave the stadium. Sianis then promptly cast a "goat curse" on the Chicago Cubs by saying, "Cubs, they not gonna win anymore". The Cubs lost the 1945 World Series to the Detroit Tigers and haven't made it to a World Series since. Cubs fans now refer to curse as the "The Billy Goat Curse".
One of the most well known curses is the "Madden Curse". The "Madden Curse" has allegedly claimed 10 victims since the video game started putting athletes on the cover instead of John Madden. That list of athletes includes the likes of Barry Sanders (abruptly retired in 1999 a week before training camp), Eddie George (never averaged more than 3.4 yards per carry after 2000), and Mike Vick (fractured right fibula during preseason game, only played in 5 games).
What is it about sports that make people who may not necessarily be religious suddenly start believing in a high power that is affecting their sports team? For me there always has to be a reason for something. I mean, Billy King can't really suck that bad at being a GM. There's just no way, someone or something has to be causing the man to throw money at over the hill veterans and unproven rookies. That's just one example of many in which I have blamed something involving Philadelphia sports on a higher power.
Maybe in essence sports is my religion. I mean, I can't be the only one who has some inane rituals in order to increase my team's chances of winning. For example, when the Eagles went to the Super Bowl, all the playoff games leading up to the game I ordered the same thing every time at the bar, tipped the waitress the same every time, and wore the same jersey/shorts/underwear. It's those little things that we tell ourselves will make a difference when our team, in this case the Eagles, take the field. And as always, in this case especially, we find some excuse whenever these rituals fail, as though it were not the will of the sports gods.
Much like how different regions of the world have their own religions, people from different cities of course have their favorite team based on where they live. And in cases, regardless of where they live, they attribute their love to a sports franchise because their family follows them and they grew up watching them. I suppose that if we must have a religion, sports is not the worst choice. There have been no crusades, inquisitions, witch hunts, or terrorist attacks associated with sports. And while I don't condone it, it is still acceptable to marry someone who is the fan of another team and no one will burn in hell for supporting the New York Mets or the New York Giants even though they should.......just kidding. Go ahead and share your rituals and the like.
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