I am delighted by the story of the Boston Red Sox jersey that was concealed in the foundations of the new stadium for the New York Yankees. A Boston-loving worker buried it there in hopes of cursing the Yankees.
After a tip-off, Yankees owner Randy Levine ordered the jackhammers be produced and the curse-jersey be dug up. They take their ritual magic seriously in Major League Baseball, where many fans don’t have their tongue in their cheek when they talk about the curse that has stopped their team winning the title. The Red Sox and the White Sox won in ’04 and ’05 respectively, officially ending the two best known curses in baseball, so there is a bit of a curse vacuum right now – giving Levine reason to be super-cautious, one suspects…
(Maybe New Zealanders need to stop grumping about the All Black coach and start blaming the voodoo. It’s been two decades since NZ’s rugby world champs win – is that long enough to count as a curse?)