Curse - Sports-related Curses

Sports-related Curses

A number of curses are used to explain the failures or misfortunes of specific sports teams, players, or even cities. For example:

• No first-time winner of the World Snooker Championship has successfully defended his title since the event was first held at the Crucible Theatre in Sheffield in 1977. This has been widely attributed to a "Crucible Curse".
• The Curse of the Goat is used to explain the failures of the Chicago Cubs baseball team, who have not won a World Series championship since 1908, and a National League pennant since 1945.
• There was a famous curse called the Curse of the Bambino on the Boston Red Sox Major League Baseball team. After the Red Sox sold Babe Ruth, who had won 3 of the 5 Red Sox World Series titles at the time, to the New York Yankees where he won his final 4 titles, it took the Red Sox 86 years to win another World Series (1918-2004). In 2004 the Red Sox made history in the American League Championship Series (ALCS) coming back from 0 games to 3, winning 4 games in a row against their arch rivals the New York Yankees blowing out game 7 in the Bronx 10 to 3, this is cited as one of the greatest comebacks in sports history. The Red Sox secured the AL Pennant and then went on to sweep the St. Louis Cardinals in the 2004 World Series, 4 games to 0 ending the curse once and for all. Three years later they would win sweep again in the 2007 World Series against the Colorado Rockies.
• The "Krukow Kurse" was used to explain the San Francisco Giants' failure to ever win the World Series until 2010. It is attributed to Mike Krukow (a former pitcher for the Giants and a current broadcaster for the team) based upon his yearly pre-season predictions that the Giants "have a chance" to win the World Series. Once Krukow stops making such predictions—says the legend—the Giants will, in fact, win the World Series. However, the Giants went on to win the World Series in 2010. Ironically, it was during the same year that Krukow's partner, Giant's broadcaster, Duane Kuiper stated "Giant's Baseball, it's Torture" due to the large amount of close games that they played. This phrase was adopted by fans and became a rallying cry throughout the second half of the season and the playoff run.
• Marketing experts have highlighted "the curse of Gillette", given the mishaps that happen to sports stars associated with the brand.