Buzz
Surprisingly, this marks only our second exploration into sports curses. Given how many there are, that's quite surprising. In this list, we're focusing on 10 curses tied specifically to sports. We'll begin with the infamous Curse of the Bambino, and then move on to others that may not be as widely known.
10. The Curse of the Bambino
The Curse of the Bambino stands as one of the most iconic sports curses in history. It all began when the Red Sox traded Babe Ruth to the Yankees in 1920, triggering an 83-year championship drought. Before the trade, the Red Sox had won five World Series titles, while the Yankees had none. After the deal, the Yankees went on to win 26 championships by 2003, while the Red Sox won zero. The curse’s power was amplified by the Red Sox consistently falling just short of victory, with four World Series appearances (1946, 1967, 1975, and 1986) each going to seven games. In 1986, the Red Sox were one out away from winning the Series in six games when a wild pitch allowed the tying run to score, followed by Mookie Wilson's ground ball slipping through Bill Buckner's legs, putting the Mets ahead. In Game 7, the Red Sox led 3-0 but eventually lost 8-5. The curse was finally broken in 2004, when the Red Sox overcame a 3-0 deficit against the Yankees in the American League Championship Series and went on to sweep the Cardinals in the World Series. They clinched another title in 2007 with a sweep over the Colorado Rockies.
9. The Curse of Billy Penn
For many years, Philadelphia had a rule that no building could surpass the height of the statue of its founder, William Penn, perched atop City Hall. This tradition was broken in 1987 when One Liberty Place was completed, standing nearly 400 feet taller than City Hall. Legend has it that Penn, displeased with this change, placed a curse on the city's sports teams. Over the next two decades, Philadelphia’s pro teams faced near-misses and heartbreak: the Flyers lost the Stanley Cup twice (1987, 1997), the Phillies fell short in the World Series (1993), the 76ers lost the NBA Finals (2001), and the Eagles were defeated in the Super Bowl (2004). In 2007, when the Comcast Center became the city's tallest building, workers attempted to lift the curse by attaching a figurine of Penn to the final beam. The next year, the Phillies won the World Series, breaking the curse.
8. The Curse of the Colonel
After the Hanshin Tigers' victory in the 1985 Japan Championship Series, ecstatic fans in Osaka grabbed a statue of Colonel Sanders from a Kentucky Fried Chicken and tossed it off a bridge into a canal. Over the next 17 years, the Tigers finished last in their league 10 times, sparking rumors that the team would never win another championship until the Colonel's statue was recovered. Although the Tigers won League Championships in 2003 and 2005, they still lost the Japan Series. It's worth noting, however, that the Tigers had gone 21 years between League Championships (1964-85) without any known curse affecting them. The statue was finally recovered on March 10, 2009, by a construction crew working on a new boardwalk.
7. The Curse of Coogan's Bluff
When the Giants moved from the Polo Grounds at Coogan’s Bluff in New York City to San Francisco in 1957, disgruntled fans supposedly cast a hex on the team, cursing them to never win a World Series away from New York. Since then, the Giants have not won the Series, despite capturing National League pennants in 1962, 1989, and 2002. During two of those Series, games in San Francisco were delayed by nature’s fury. Game 6 of the 1962 Series was delayed by three days due to heavy rain, while Game 3 of the 1989 Series was postponed for 10 days due to a massive earthquake that damaged their home field, Candlestick Park.
6. The Curse of Marty McSorley
In Game 2 of the 1992 Stanley Cup Final, the Los Angeles Kings led the Montreal Canadiens 2-1 as time was winding down. Montreal’s head coach, Jacques Demers, began to suspect that the stick of Kings defenseman Marty McSorley was too curved. After asking for it to be measured, the referees confirmed it was illegal and penalized McSorley with a two-minute minor for using improper equipment. The Canadiens took advantage of the power play, and Eric Desjardins scored to equalize the game. In overtime, Desjardins netted another goal, securing the win for Montreal and evening the series. The Canadiens went on to win the next three games and clinched the Stanley Cup. Since then, no Canadian team has won the championship, with the Vancouver Canucks (1994), Calgary Flames (2004), Edmonton Oilers (2006), and Ottawa Senators (2007) all losing to American teams in the Finals. It’s hard to make sense of why the entire country would be cursed for Montreal’s misfortune, or why the innocent team in this scenario is also the victim, but as history shows, curses are rarely fair or logical. One team found a way out of the curse: the Quebec Nordiques moved to Denver in 1995, rebranded as the Colorado Avalanche, and went on to win two Stanley Cups in 1996 and 2001.
5. The Madden Curse
Since the release of Madden NFL in 1999, the cover athlete has often found themselves beset by injuries or setbacks. For instance, Michael Vick, who graced the cover of Madden NFL 2004, suffered a devastating leg injury that kept him out for most of the 2003 season. When Donovan McNabb appeared on Madden NFL 2006’s cover, he famously dismissed the curse, stating “I don’t believe in the curse at all.” Yet, McNabb went on to suffer a hernia in the opening game of the 2005 season, played through the pain for several weeks, only to be reinjured and ultimately miss the remainder of the season after opting for surgery. In 2006, Shaun Alexander, coming off his MVP season, was featured on Madden NFL 2007, only to be sidelined by a foot injury that caused him to miss six games. Superstitious fans were so concerned when LaDainian Tomlinson was announced as the 2008 cover star that they launched a website—SaveLTfromMadden.com—in a bid to prevent him from accepting. Tomlinson ultimately declined the offer, citing financial reasons over any fear of the infamous curse.
4. The Curse of Bobby Layne
Quarterback Bobby Layne, who led the Detroit Lions to three NFL Championships (1952, 1953, and 1957), was traded to the Pittsburgh Steelers in 1958 after the Lions deemed him past his prime. As he departed, Layne is famously quoted as saying that Detroit would not win a championship for 50 years. Over the following half-century, the Lions posted the worst winning percentage in the NFL and secured just one playoff victory, which came in 1991. On the 50th anniversary of the trade, the curse made its mark as the Lions became the first team in NFL history to finish a season 0-16.
3. The Sports Illustrated Cover Jinx
According to legend, athletes featured on the cover of Sports Illustrated often fall victim to bad luck. The first cover star, baseball player Eddie Mathews, was the first to experience the so-called ‘jinx,’ suffering a hand injury just one week after the issue was published, which kept him out of seven games. Over time, the curse has been responsible for a variety of misfortunes: the 1987 baseball preview boldly predicted the Cleveland Indians to be ‘the best team in the American League,’ only for the team to lose 101 games and finish last; golfer Jim Venturi, named Sportsman of the Year in 1964, spent the next season battling carpal tunnel syndrome; and Pat O’Connor, featured on the 1958 Indianapolis 500 preview, tragically died in a 15-car crash during the final lap. However, Michael Jordan defied the odds, gracing the cover a record 49 times without suffering major setbacks. A 2002 Sports Illustrated study revealed that 37% of cover athletes endured a notable decline in performance or suffered unfortunate events after their appearance on the cover.
2. The Curse of the Billy Goat
In 1945, William Sianis, the owner of the Billy Goat Bar, took his pet goat to Wrigley Field to watch Game 4 of the World Series. During the 7th inning, Chicago Cubs owner Philip Wrigley had Sianis and the goat ejected after fans complained about the smell. Furious, Sianis allegedly declared, ‘Them Cubs, they aren’t gonna win no more.’ The Cubs went on to lose the next three games and dropped the Series to the Detroit Tigers. Sianis sent Wrigley a telegram asking, ‘Who smells now?’ The Cubs have not made it back to a World Series since. Over the years, fans have attempted various rituals to lift the curse, including Sianis’ nephew bringing a goat onto the field and even hanging a butchered goat from a statue of Harry Caray. Sam Sianis, William’s nephew-in-law, claims the curse can only be broken if the Cubs show true affection for goats, allowing them into Wrigley Field out of genuine love and not as a publicity stunt.
1. The Socceroos’ Witch Doctor Curse
According to Johnny Warren’s autobiography, during the 1970 World Cup qualifiers, Australia’s Socceroos hired a witch doctor to cast a curse on their opponents. After this, the team defeated Rhodesia 3-1. However, when the players were unable to pay the witch doctor’s 1000-pound fee, he turned the curse back onto the Socceroos. The team suffered a loss to Israel in their next match, and three players fell ill during the game. In 2004, Australian comedian and filmmaker John Safran, after reading Warren’s book, traveled to Africa to undo the curse. He discovered that the original witch doctor had passed away, so he hired a new one, who performed a ritual involving the sacrifice of a chicken and splattering its blood over Safran. The curse was broken, and the Socceroos not only qualified for the 2006 World Cup but also advanced to the second round, their best performance to date.
