mouseandhat Wednesday: The Curse of the Billy Goat
Posted under: All things go, all things go.
After working as a sports copy editor for a central Ohio newspaper for about a month and a half, looking over stories from Cleveland and Cincinnati as well as any number of other places around the world, I have gathered some knowledge about the typical sports news article. It seems to me that no other section of news is so devoted to statistics. Tidbits of information that seem inconsequential out of context – a pitcher’s ERA versus left-handed batters, for instance, or the at-bat ratings of a particular batter against a particular team – suddenly bear so much importance when applied to an upcoming game or, even more so, the upset of a game that just happened.
If readers wanted to know just the information behind the meeting of two teams on the diamond, they would look at a roundup of statistics from last night’s game. They look to sports journalists to put some meaning to the numbers and figures, to explain why it’s so crucial that CC Sabathia, a former member of the Cleveland Indians, lost in a shootout to major-league newbie Josh Tomlin in the same game where Alex Rodriguez was once again denied his 600th career home run.
It is in this same vein, I think, that superstition has developed so strongly in the sports world, both among fans and among players. While sports could be derived down to numbers and probability, some occurrences seem so astronomical and extraordinary, one can’t help but feel that some outside force has exerted its influence. If a player has a phenomenal performance, he or she might look back on a seemingly insignificant item or event that set that day apart from others and, in future performances, re-enact that item or event in the hope that doing so would cause another great outing. Likewise, an out-of-the-ordinary event might be blamed for a streak of bad luck or bad performance for a franchise.
Image courtesy wikimedia.org.
So it is that the “Curse of the Billy Goat” came to be. In 1945, Billy Sanis, owner of the Billy Goat Tavern across from Chicago Stadium, attended game four of the World Series at Wrigley Field to cheer on his local Cubs. He brought his pet goat Murphy – a goat that had fallen off a truck and wandered into his tavern – hoping the animal would bring the team good luck. Billy’s goat was denied entrance because of its odor, and Billy proclaimed (according to legend) that the Cubs would never win the World Series again so long as his goat was refused admission. Sure enough, the once successful franchise has had a hard time since then.
Could it be that Sanis, a Greek immigrant with a penchant for publicity, really did curse the Cubs? The only supporting evidence of such a curse is the statistical record. It could be that the Cubs really are doomed so long as the curse remains, or it could be a serious case of self-fulfilling prophecy – they continue to fail because they believe it is impossible to succeed.
The supposed curse also gives fans something to fall back on to explain a poor performance by the team. They might lose a vital game not because they are not skilled enough or because the opponents were better; rather, they lost because the curse held them back. Thus, the blame is transferred away from the team to some intangible, unrelated entity. Some 55-year-old incident with a smelly goat is the cause of it all.
I say nonsense. That sort of rationality – or lack thereof – is self-destructive. It promotes self-doubt, which can eat away at one’s confidence and bring about the worst expectations.
Of course, it does not matter what I say about the whole of sports. Baseball, for one, has been around for centuries in some form or another, and it is only natural that a mythology should develop around it. The Curse of the Billy Goat is as real to some people as ghosts are to others – something that cannot be proven or unproven but does well to explain what appears to be an abnormal occurrence.
If players and fans want to indulge in such superstitions, who am I to deny them of that right? I guess the Cubs just have to ask themselves which smells worse, the lack of a World Series title or the goats.
Next week’s topic: chess, submitted by Marc-André Chambers.
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I really liked this. It’s nice to see you’re learning a little bit about my world : )
AND HOW
BUT IF ALFONSO CAN’T CATCH A FLY BALL ANYMORE, IT MUST BE BECAUSE OF A GOAT, NO?
awesome article
it’s a good point.
even though, to be fair, for all we know the cubs might be trying their best, year-in-year-out, without even subconscious thought of the ‘curse’ affecting them.
they might even actually believe that they can do it, which is pretty important too. how would we, as outsiders, know either way?
at the end of the day, though,
they don’t really have anyone else but themselves to blame for opening themselves up to accusation by all and sundry, who choose to approach them from this angle.
if you don’t believe you can do it, and/or you think it is acceptable not to make it, you won’t, and this will apply every time especially in sports.
(imho, anyways)
I just love the picture of the billy goat.