Long suffering fans of what professional team trace their woes to a curse placed in 1945 by Billy Sianis when he was asked to leave the stadium because of his maladorous goat?
"win the NL pennant. The Cubs then defeated the American League (AL) champion Cleveland Indians 8–7 in 10 innings in game 7 to win the 2016 World Series, 108 years after their last win. The exact nature of Sianis's curse differs in various accounts of the incident. Some state that he declared that no World Series games would ever again be played at Wrigley Field, while others believe that his ban was on the Cubs appearing in the World Series, making no mention of a specific venue. Sianis’s family claims that he dispatched a telegram to team owner Philip K."
"were forced to move, the angry Romani people put a 100-year hex on the stadium. Throughout the years many Birmingham City managers would try to remove the curse but with little success. Former manager Ron Saunders tried to banish the curse in the 1980s by placing crucifixes on floodlights and painting the bottom of his players' boots red. Another manager, Barry Fry, in charge from 1993 to 1996, urinated in all four corners of the pitch after a clairvoyant said it would break the spell. On Boxing Day 2006 the curse was finally lifted and on that day Birmingham City"
"win the World Series, which they were not able to do until 2016. The Cubs, on more than one occasion, have featured a tongue-in-cheek promotion where billy goats are brought into the stadium to be offered as an apology. Some historians argue that the genesis of the curse goes back much farther; that the allegedly underhanded way they won the 1908 pennant (leading to their last World Series win) angered the ""baseball gods"". For lack of a standard term, this could be called the curse of Fred Merkle, since he was at the center of the controversy. Every post-season they"
"Curse of Coogan's Bluff The Curse of Coogan's Bluff/Curse of Eddie Grant (1958–2010) was a baseball-related superstition that allegedly prevented the San Francisco Giants Major League Baseball franchise from winning the World Series following the club's move from New York City to San Francisco after the conclusion of the 1957 season. The curse began when upset Giants fans in the New York metropolitan area placed a hex on the relocated franchise. The curse ended when the Giants won the 2010 World Series in their fourth World Series appearance since the move to San Francisco. Although the actual curse began in"
"Giants fans in New York allegedly placed a hex on the franchise, starting the Curse of Coogan's Bluff that would last for over 50 years. Within that period, they made it to the World Series three times, but lost each time. These included a seven-game loss to the New York Yankees in , a four-game sweep by their cross-bay rival Oakland Athletics in that was marred by the Loma Prieta earthquake, and another seven-game loss to the Anaheim Angels in after being eight outs away from the title in Game 6 with a 5-0 lead. Their last postseason appearance was"
"said he hopes becomes a tradition, Illinois's Republican junior U.S. Senator-elect Representative Mark Kirk met in 2010 with his defeated Democratic opponent, Alexi Giannoulias, for 20 minutes at the Chicago tavern following the bitter campaign and a tight election, where both sides had made each other's missteps very public. The tavern is also known for its involvement in the Curse of the Billy Goat (also known as the ""Cubs Curse""). Owner Sianis brought his pet goat, a tavern mascot, to Game 4 of the 1945 World Series, a home game at Wrigley Field against the Detroit Tigers. Despite paid-for box"
"his 2007 discovery that has the cursed the Cubs since its team owner was snubbed at the team celebration dinner right after the Cubs won the 1908 World Series. He called this discovery the Curse of Murphy's Law. Everything bad that has happened to the Cubs since 1908, a Murphy was involved. In 1945, the billy goat's name was Murphy, in 1969, the Mets were known as Murphy's Mets after GM Johnny Murphy and Mets' announcer Bob Murphy. In 1984, the Cubs were one game away from going to the World Series and then lost all three games at Jack"
"left town, during which they would win three more World Series championships before the Phillies broke through. In New York City, the Yankees had long passed the New York Giants in popularity, though the Giants remained popular and the Brooklyn Dodgers were gaining popularity as well. Chicago would see the Cubs as roughly equal in popularity to the White Sox despite their constant losing seasons and the Curse of the Billy Goat allegedly affecting the Cubs from making the Fall Classic from 1945 to 2016. This can likely be attributed to the after effects of the Black Sox Scandal of"
"at the Lisbon club, also having his contract terminated. Then, he cursed the club declaring: ""Not in a hundred years from now will Benfica ever be European champion."" Benfica has appeared in five European Cup finals and three UEFA Cup/UEFA Europa League finals since 1962 and lost all eight matches. English football side Birmingham City F.C. played 100 years under an alleged curse from 1906 to 2006. As the legend goes, the club moved from nearby Muntz Street into its current location at St Andrew's, building the stadium on land that was being used by the Romani people. After they"
"seat tickets, Cubs owner Philip K. Wrigley allegedly ejected Sianis and goat due to the latter's odor. Supposedly, Sianis placed a curse on the team that they would never win another World Series championship. After an extensive dry spell, they eventually won the 2016 World Series against the Cleveland Indians. Another sign reads: ""Cheezborger, Cheezborger, Cheezborger. No Pepsi. Coke,"" These words, with ""Pepsi"" and ""Coke"" in reverse order, were originally popularized by John Belushi in ""Olympia Cafe,"" an early ""Saturday Night Live"" sketch that was inspired by the tavern. It was Bill Murray and sketch writer (and bit player) Don"
"General Manager Charley Casserly attributed the curse to such factors as ""a shorter offseason, contract problems, [and] more demand for your players' time"". Casserly also noted that ""once the season starts, you become the biggest game on everybody's schedule,"" suggesting that pressure from fans and spectators may also affect a team's performance. The home field curse affects the host team of the Super Bowl. So far no team has yet managed to reach the Super Bowl in their home stadium. Five teams with Super Bowls in their home venue have qualified for the divisional playoffs: the 1994 Miami Dolphins, the"
"further heartbreak and resentment among local fans, the most notable instances being Art Modell's relocation of the Browns to Baltimore after the 1995 season (that franchise became the Ravens, with the current Browns team starting play in 1999), and Akron native LeBron James' decision to leave the Cavaliers in 2010 for the Miami Heat. (James later returned to the Cavaliers in 2014.) The curse is seen as having ended in June 2016, when the Cavaliers won the NBA Championship against the defending champion Golden State Warriors. Shortly before the Cavaliers' victory, the Monsters also defeated the Hershey Bears to become"
"Curse of the Colonel The curse was said to be placed on the team because of the Colonel's anger over treatment of one of his store-front statues, which was thrown into the Dōtonbori River by celebrating Hanshin fans following their team's victory in the 1985 Japan Championship Series. As is common with sports-related curses, the Curse of the Colonel was used to explain the team's subsequent 18-year losing streak. Some fans believed the team would never win another Japan Series until the statue had been recovered. They have appeared in the Japan Series three times since then, losing in 2003,"
"in his history of the Red Sox portrayed him implicitly as a Jew. Stout argues that this hatred indirectly created the atmosphere where the ""curse"" could be accepted. Curse of the Bambino The Curse of the Bambino was a superstition evolving from the failure of the Boston Red Sox baseball team to win the World Series in the 86-year period from 1918 to 2004. While some fans took the curse seriously, most used the expression in a tongue-in-cheek manner. This misfortune began after the Red Sox sold star player Babe Ruth, sometimes nicknamed as ""The Bambino"", to the New York"
"Mets in late August, but the Cubs wilted under pressure, losing key games to the Mets, and finished at 92–70, eight games out of first. Many superstitious fans attribute this collapse to an incident at Shea Stadium on September 9, when a fan released a black cat onto the field, thereby further cursing the club. Others have stated the sheer number of day games that the Cubs had to play contributed to the disaster. Chicago, being near Lake Michigan, boasts summers which are quite humid (85–90 °F on average), and playing in this heat day after day might have taken"
"The many playoff failures convinced Rangers fans that this was a manifestation of the Curse of 1940, which is said to either have begun when the Rangers management burnt the mortgage to Madison Square Garden in the bowl of the Stanley Cup after the 1940 victory or by Red Dutton following the collapse of the New York Americans franchise. In the early 1980s, Islander fans began chanting ""1940! 1940!"" to taunt the Rangers. Fans in other cities soon picked up the chant. Frustration was at its peak when the 1991–92 squad captured the Presidents' Trophy. They took a 2–1 series"
"actually accused of manipulating with the money given by the club for organizing fan support. Several hundred members of ""Južni Front"" left the traditional south stand and occupied the north stand of the stadium. The split lasted for a few years until 2005, when the fans settled their differences. In the 1990s, the unique, yet unofficial mascot of mostly all Grobari fan groups was an angry looking bulldog, but in the last few years it has been a sexton standing next to his shovel. Revolted by Partizan being eliminated from the Champions League qualifications, followed by elimination from the first"
"and subsequently limped into his tavern. The goat wore a blanket with a sign pinned to it which read ""We got Detroit's goat"". Sianis and the goat were allowed into Wrigley Field and even paraded about on the playing field before the game before ushers intervened and led them off the field. After a heated argument, both Sianis and the goat were permitted to stay in the stadium occupying the box seat for which he had tickets. At this point, Andy Frain (head of Wrigley Field's hired security company at the time), waved the goat's box-seat ticket in the air"
"sports franchise in the world. The name ""Ravens"" was inspired by Edgar Allan Poe's poem ""The Raven"". Chosen in a fan contest that drew 33,288 voters, the allusion honors Poe, who spent the early part of his career in Baltimore and is buried there. As the ""Baltimore Sun"" reported at the time, fans also ""liked the tie-in with the other birds in town, the Orioles, and found it easy to visualize a tough, menacing black bird."" After the controversial relocation of the Colts to Indianapolis, several attempts were made to bring an NFL team back to Baltimore. In 1993, ahead"
"of the greatest controversies in sports history. The curse will supposedly only be lifted when the championship is returned to Pottsville and to the correct shade of red team; this can only be met by overturning the original ruling, as Pottsville no longer has an NFL team and is too small to ever receive another one (with a metropolitan area roughly half the population of Green Bay, the league's smallest), making it impossible for the long-defunct Maroons to win another title. The Cardinals team holds the record for the longest championship drought, with their most recent championship coming in 1947,"
"the darkness and, coincidentally, also took down the goalposts. (The final quarter of the game was played three days later.) Some unusual pitch invasions have become part of football folklore, such as the famous incident of the pig named ""Plugger"" being let loose on the ground in round 18, 1993. Similar incidents of animals invading the pitch have also occurred in recent years, including a feral cat which was arrested at AAMI Stadium, as well as occasional dogs. The outlawed practice of ""streaking"" (running naked onto the ground) occurred in some big matches, most famously the performance of Helen d'Amico"
"traded away. In the years since they moved out of Municipal Stadium the Indians have enjoyed success in the regular season, winning nine division titles (including five in a row from 1995-1999) and three American League pennants. But disappointing failures in the post-season have demonstrated to believers that a curse may still loom over the ballclub. Curse of Rocky Colavito The Curse of Rocky Colavito is a phenomenon that supposedly prevents the Cleveland Indians Major League Baseball (MLB) franchise from winning, be it the World Series, the American League (AL) pennant, reaching postseason play, or even getting into a pennant"
"disastrous 8th inning that many Cubs fans call bad omens of The Curse of the Billy Goat, which most notably include Bernie Mac altering ""Take Me Out to the Ball Game"" from ""root for the Cubbies"" to ""root for the champs."" The Marlins went on to win Game 7 and then to defeat the New York Yankees in the World Series. Chicago manager Dusty Baker, who won the NL pennant in 2002 with the San Francisco Giants, fell short in his bid to become the first manager ever to take two different teams to the World Series in consecutive years."
"the crowd to confront some of the home supporters and was knocked unconscious. The ground was again closed for two weeks in 1934 following crowd disturbances after the visit of Bradford Park Avenue. Pitch invasions resulted in another closure in 1947 and in 1950 the club was fined after a referee and linesman were ambushed outside the ground. In the 1960s, hooliganism in England became more widely reported. On 6 November 1965 Millwall beat west London club Brentford 2–1 away at Griffin Park and during the game a hand grenade was thrown onto the pitch from the Millwall end. Brentford's"
"of eerie, especially when you juxtapose it to what's happening on these corners that I've just left all over the city."" He reserved judgement on whether the game should have been played, but observed that players' public comments on the situation expressed a desire to ""give people for two or three hours a sense of normalcy during a very disruptive situation."" One fan on the streets, Steve Orzol of Joppa, chose to protest the closure of the stadium to spectators. He walked up and down Camden Street carrying a sign showing the team's mascot bird with a tear in its"
"Curse of 1940 The Curse of 1940, also called Dutton's Curse, was a superstitious explanation for why the National Hockey League (NHL)'s New York Rangers did not win the league's championship trophy, the Stanley Cup, from 1940 through 1994. The Rangers began play in the season and won a division title in their first season of existence and a Stanley Cup against the Montreal Maroons in their second. They would win two more Cups in and , defeating the Toronto Maple Leafs both times. During the season, the mortgage on the Rangers' home arena, the third Madison Square Garden (built"
"flung in his face by Rasheed Wallace during the playoffs, decided to leave the team. The next two seasons were just as disastrous for the team's reputation. Several players, including Wallace, Stoudamire, and Qyntel Woods, were cited for marijuana possession. Woods pleaded guilty to first-degree animal abuse for staging dog fights in his house, some involving his pit bull named Hollywood. Hollywood and Woods' other pit bull, Sugar, were confiscated, and Woods was given eighty hours of community service. He also agreed to donate $10,000 to the Oregon Humane Society. Wallace was suspended for seven games for threatening a referee."
"behavior. Fans pelted national TV broadcasters with snowballs, ice, and beer during a Cowboys-Eagles game in 1989 known as ""Bounty Bowl II"". On Nov. 10, 1997, an Eagles fan shot a flare gun across the field into the stands during a nationally televised Monday night game against the San Francisco 49ers. In 1999, ""Sports Illustrated"" blamed the fans' behavior on their teams' longtime poor quality of play, as seen in the 40-year championship drought for the Eagles and the 76ers' 1972-1973 season, which was the worst in NBA history at 9-73. The curse was also said to include Bensalem-Township-based thoroughbred"
"fans threw leeks at the vehicle. The team had adopted a black cat for the occasion, which Ferguson had found wandering astray prior to their earlier match with Bolton and decided it was a good omen. He found the owners of the animal, who agreed to let the club keep the cat in return for two final tickets if they progressed that far. Police reinforcements were required at Empire Stadium, as at 1pm a large number of people had gathered outside the ticket office in a threatening manner. A large number of fake tickets had been sold to members of"
"and publicly apologize for trading Ruth to the Yankees. Some declared the curse broken during a game on August 31, 2004, when a foul ball hit by Manny Ramírez flew into Section 9, Box 95, Row AA and struck a boy's face, knocking two of his teeth out. 16-year-old Lee Gavin, a Boston fan whose favorite player was Ramirez, lived on the Sudbury farm owned by Ruth. That same day, the Yankees suffered their worst loss in team history, a 22–0 clobbering at home against the Cleveland Indians. Some fans also cite a comedy curse-breaking ceremony performed by musician Jimmy"
"of five decades, the 34-season span from 1948 to 1981. He covered the games with a level of enthusiasm that often seemed unjustified by the team's poor performance on the field for many of those years. His trademark call """"Hey Hey!"""" always followed a home run. That expression is spelled out in large letters vertically on both foul pole screens at Wrigley Field. ""Whoo-boy!"" and ""Wheeee!"" and ""Oh, brother!"" were among his other pet expressions. When he approached retirement age, he personally recommended his successor. Harry Caray's stamp on the team is perhaps even deeper than that of Brickhouse, although"
"United F.C. who play at Grove Corner. They also have a youth set up called Portland United youth football Club. Rabbits have long been associated with bad luck on Portland; use of the name is still taboo—the creatures are often referred to as ""underground mutton"", ""long-eared furry things"" or just ""bunnies"". The origin of this superstition is obscure (there is no record of it before the 1920s) but it is believed to derive from quarry workers: they would see rabbits emerging from their burrows immediately before a rock fall and blame them for increasing the risk of dangerous, sometimes deadly,"
"Cleveland sports curse The Cleveland sports curse was a sports superstition involving the city of Cleveland, Ohio, and its major league professional sports teams, centered on the failure to win a championship in any major league sport for a period of 52 years, from 1964 to 2016. Three major league teams based in Cleveland contributed to belief in the curse: the Browns of the National Football League (NFL); the Cavaliers of the National Basketball Association (NBA); and the Indians of Major League Baseball (MLB). Combined with the short-lived Barons franchise of the National Hockey League (NHL), Cleveland teams endured an"