The Boston Red Sox winning the World Series is great. It really is. But the fact that they aren't lovable losers anymore does take a little away from baseball as a whole. A great thing about the Red Sox was the constant chatter from their fans until the season started - the "this is the year" talk is something that I will sorely miss.
But perhaps we can trade the Curse of the Bambino for a multitude of other curses, because they really do add to the mystique of the sport. The aura of a curse can still linger, whether it be around the Red Sox or not, and there are definitely candidates to suffer the next great curse.
A person who now definitely has the stigma of being cursed is none other than Alex Rodriguez. Every team that A-Rod has left has immediately improved. In 2001, the year after he left the Seattle Mariners, they won a record 116 games. The Texas Rangers won 89 games this year and were in contention for the playoffs until the last week of the season. In three years with A-Rod, the Rangers won an average of 72 games and were a permanent fixture in the cellar of the American League West.
This year, after the Red Sox made a push at trading for A-Rod, he was traded to the evil empire that is the New York Yankees. The Yankees, with A-Rod and several other off-season acquisitions, were obviously popular picks to win the World Series. Is it no coincidence that after A-Rod arrived in the Bronx, the Yankees made the biggest collapse in post-season history?
Former Red Sox shortstop Nomar Garciaparra is another cursed player. After having been the face of the Red Sox for eight years, Garciaparra was dealt from one lovable loser to another, the Chicago Cubs. It is once again not a coincidence that Garciaparra was dealt and the Red Sox won the World Series. If Garciaparra re-signs with the Cubs, the Cubs will continue to be disappointing, and not just because of that billy goat curse. Nomar had better get used to spending those cold Octobers with Mia Hamm, because he definitely will not be playing in them.
We move now from players to cities. It is true that the Red Sox hadn't won the World Series in 86 years, but New England was not generally deprived. The Patriots have won two out of the last three Super Bowls and the Celtics won three NBA titles during the 1980's.
Philadelphia, however, has definitely been working its way to being a cursed city. It is true that Philadelphia fans can be somewhat irrational - after all, we did boo Santa Claus back when the Eagles played at Franklin Field, and no one can forget us throwing those double D batteries at J.D. Drew after he refused to sign with the Phillies.
There has not been a championship of any sort in Philly since 1983, the year before I was born (maybe it is I that is cursed, and not the city). We have come so close in so many sports. The Phillies lost the World Series thanks to Joe Carter in 1993; the Sixers lost the NBA finals in 2001; the Eagles have lost the last three NFC Championship games. Not only that, but the Eagles are the only team ever to lose consecutive conference championship games at home. We Philadelphians were so desperate for a championship of any kind that we hopped on the Smarty Jones bandwagon over the summer, and even his quest for a triple crown was denied by Birdstone at the Belmont Stakes.
People don't seem to understand the history of losing that this city has. On top of losing the last three NFC title games, the Eagles haven't been to the Super Bowl since 1981 and even then they made history, being the first division champion to lose to a wild card team on football's biggest stage. I will always be loyal to my teams and say "next year is the year," but is it out of my hands at this point? I can only hope that Terrell Owens proves me wrong.
The idea of breaking a curse is something that will always keep fans motivated. We love to continuously root for teams and players that have very little chance of winning in the slight hopes that they may break the curse and do so. Even if the curse lives on, there is always next year.
Justin Goldman '07 will wear the same pair of boxers until the Curse of Philadelphia is broken. Ew.
