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I Now Believe In Curses
I’ve never been one to place much stock in voodoo or ancient curses or the like. Nor am I a superstitious person. Sports people, though, tend to be more superstitious and baseball players and fans are perhaps more suspicious than most. So talk of curses being real is nothing new in baseball. I am starting to believe.
Chicago Cubs fans could have been forgiven for believing their team was cursed. My aunt was one of them who firmly believed her beloved Cubs’ century of futility was caused by a capraphilic Cubs fan placing a curse on the club. I tended to think the Cubs were loveable losers because for so long they had an ownership that wasn’t much interested in winning. That the Cubs finally won a World Series had more to do with new management than with the blessing of goats to remove a curse.
Then there is the case of the Minnesota Twins. I was born and raised a Twins fan, have lived and died with them for my whole life, which means I have been in a near-death state most of my life. I was alive and well at the Metrodome for the Twins’ World Series triumphs, but 1987 and 1991 are now a very long time ago.
Since then, the Twins have lost an astonishing 16 straight playoff games, including 13 of them to the Evil Yankees (yes, they are evil, just ask anyone). Such a string of loses is unprecedented in all of sports. I will not repeat all of the miraculous…
