Sporting curses – Don’t underestimate them!

LIVERPOOL, ENGLAND – SEPTEMBER 02: Steven Gerrard of Liverpool leaves the pitch after defeat to Arsenal in the Barclays Premier League match between Liverpool and Arsenal at Anfield on September 2, 2012 in Liverpool, England.

Often I wonder if Liverpool will ever win the League again. I ask myself if this team is where glory is forecast to lie. I ask myself, almost every day whether the title of Premier League champions will be bestowed upon Liverpool. Since I started watching football, Liverpool have won everything I’ve wanted them to, bar the English Premier League. This year, they seem nowhere near another title showdown. For the years to come, not many fans seem positive that this illustrious organization stands a chance to compete against the likes of the Arabian Manchester City, Glazed Manchester United or the Russian Oligarchs of Chelsea.

Is this an ultimatum for us to give up? Will there ever lie a desideratum to support this club anymore?

“Come back when you have won 18!” read an infamous banner at Anfield a few years ago. Two seasons ago, a corresponding banner at Old Trafford retorted, “You told us to come back when we’ve won 18, we’re back…”

For over two decades, Liverpool’s silverware cabinet has lacked the Premier League title. A sense of a curse, maybe? I definitely think it is, although it could be disputed by several over-optimists.

Liverpool aren’t the only team haunted by a sinful curse. Take into context Derby County who were haunted by a spell placed by the Romani people. The team reached six semi-finals but never won even one of them. In 1946, the team beat Charlton where during the game, a ball burst, indicating the hex was lifted. Well, let’s face it – today’s Derby are a Championship minnow having recorded the worst spell in top division football – an astonishing one-win season.

BOLTON, ENGLAND – AUGUST 21: Mark Davies of Bolton Wanderers chases Will Hughes of Derby County during the npower Championship match between Bolton Wanderers and Derby County at Reebok Stadium on August 21, 2012 in Bolton, England.

The reality is that this is not just limited to sports. Video games, like our American Football friends would agree, have been tormented by players unwilling to appear on the cover. The best example: American Football’s Madden produced by EA Sports.

Madden is the most popular sports video game in America. My 18 months in America has seen me play the game nearly day and night. For my American buds, it’s way more than that. Looking at it this way, stars that appear on the cover shouldn’t shun this delirious opportunity for a mere curse. Hmm! Actually, not many players have coveted a good surge in their careers after sporting the Madden game cover. In fact, legends have gone onto retire immediately and talents have been ruined. Why so? A measly curse yet an immense effect – crazy, eh?

Brett Favre, the game’s heartthrob appeared on the Madden 2009 cover. He retired a season ago but his enigmatic self pursued a return to the game. Poor Favre! His legacy would have stood out more than now had he resorted to staying out of the game. Following his return and his image on the Madden ’09 cover, he was plagued by injuries, terrible and disastrous outings in the game and a sexual harassment scandal. From a legend, Favre lost his cult-hero status. Again, just a curse troubling the usual success of a sport star!

DETROIT, MI – JANUARY 02: Brett Favre #4 of the Minnesota Vikings heads to a post game press conference after a 13-20 loss to the Detroit Lions at Ford Field on January 2, 2011 in Detroit, Michigan.

An interesting curse is the bonanza appearance on commercials. Campbell’s soup, one of America’s better known culinary brands, has featured a prodigious number of stars in its advertisements. Kurt Warner, Terrell Davis and LaDanian Tomlinson – the trio that dominated the game of American Football in the early 2000’s have posted career low stats, missed games and consented to the fringes of the game after promoting the Campbell’s soup product. From a sports video game to a soup brand, sporting icons may no more wish to appear in commercials for the bigger bucks.

Curses have affected a single organisation or a person but nothing would surmount the jinx surrounding the city of Cleveland. The same city that held onto James till he wished to explore the sunnier beaches of Miami has never seen a major sporting championship since 1964 – 48 long years! The primal example of karma, Cleveland was a storied city – the epicentre for every thriving youngster to represent in sports. Since 1948, the Indians or the baseballing franchise of Cleveland haven’t won the World Series. In 1964, Cleveland won its fourth and last national championship in American Football. Before the Super Bowl era, the Browns’ franchise was the most consistent. Post Super Bowl era, it is the worst and least successful team! Yes, the worst ever! And we clearly now see how the LeBron James and Cleveland Cavaliers sage ended – an entire city with an intense fan following yet to no avail. Curses, curses and curses!

MIAMI, FL – FEBRUARY 07: LeBron James #6 of the Miami Heat looks on during a game against the Cleveland Cavaliers at American Airlines Arena on February 7, 2012 in Miami, Florida.

To finally conclude, no curse has been more regretful that the one linking the Red Sox and Yankees. New York versus Boston or the Yankees versus Red Sox, the biggest game in baseball calendar saw tides surge one way when Ruth was traded to the Yankees from the Bostonian franchise for the lamest reason ever: Red Sox’s manager, Henry Frazee wished to fund his girlfriend’s play for which he saw Babe Ruth as an excuse. What followed was inevitable. The Yankees garnered the greatest player in baseball history while the Red Sox were title-less for an entire century. And the reason backing that up only makes Red Sox heads hang in shame.

Liverpool, Boston Red Sox, Derby County and Cleveland: a wide array of teams that have been jinxed for quite a while. It hurts when you a part of the jinx. But when the spell does break, like the Red Sox in ’04 or for Derby in 1946, there is no greater joy. Scream, yell, cry yet revel in the team that only history can surpass – jinxes, curses and spells are a worthwhile coincidence to a generic term humans call “sport”.