The Curse of the Goat
The Boys of October are down to the final eight, and wonder of wonders, the Chicago Cubs are in the mix. When it comes to major league baseball, I am kind of a generalist. I really don’t have a favorite team. I follow players not teams. I really am an Indianapolis Indians fan so I have followed the parent club Pirates lately to see how our local boys do when they are called up. It did not escape my attention, however, that the Cubs seemed to be having “a year” this season. I watched a few games and was impressed. This is not the first time that I have seen a Chicago team play well for a while and then fall victim to the CURSE as the regular season has wound down. The Cubs curse is the Curse of the Billy Goat leveled upon them by Billy Sianis during the 1945 World Series. Sianis was a Greek immigrant who owned the Billy Goat Tavern which was located across from Wrigley Field and was frequented by the sports media and Chicago sports personalities. Sianis considered himself Chicago’s number one sports fan. He owned a billy goat he named Murphy which was the tavern’s mascot. Sianis also brought Murphy to Cub and Bear games as sort of a good luck symbol. In game 4 of the 1945 series against the Detroit Tigers, Billy Sianis was ordered to remove his goat from the stands because people were complaining about the smell. Sianis was livid and told reports that “Them Cubs ain’t gonna win no more!”
Billy Sianis sent a telegram to Cubs’ owner and chewing gum magnet Phil Wrigley stating that “You are going to lose this World Series and the Cubs will never win another because you insulted my goat.” The Cubs were leading the Tigers 2-1 but the Tigers won three straight and took the 1945 Championship. As for the Cubs, 1945 was the last time a Cubs team played in a series. The Cub have not won a World Series Championship since 1908 — a very long drought.
Fans and management have on a number of occasions tried to lift the curse but it has been 71 years since the Cubs have played a series game. Billy Sianis actually tried to “undo’ the curse in 1979 but to no avail. Because once a spell is cast, it’s impossible to call it back. So is 2016 the year the curse is finally lifted? who knows?
Actually, I would love to see a Chicago Cubs vs. Cleveland Indians series just for nostalgia’s sake, but a Cubs Championship would really be special.
Automatic Adam
Once again Colts placekicker Adam Vinatieri was the Big Blue’s savior in a very tight game. The NFL’s oldest player even knocked home a 55 yarder, just to show that he’s still got it. He is currently riding a 38 straight field goal streak; the third longest in NFL history. I have lost count of the times Vinatieri has pulled the Horseshoe’s tail out of the fire. The dude is 43 years old and is kicking better than ever. Right now Adam Vinatieri is third on the all-time scoring list behind Gary Anderson and Morton Andersen. Adam has now 2,304 points which puts him 40 points behind Gary Anderson. He will more than likely surpass Anderson for second place sometime this season. Morton Andersen has 2,544 career points. It is going to take Automatic Adam a couple of more productive seasons to become the NFL’s all-time leading scorer, but since I firmly believe that No. 4 from Yankton, South Dakota will still be kicking at age 75, I also believe he can do it! There is a strong argument that Mr. Vinatieri should be named the Colts’ MVP.
A New Bear Running Star?
Lost in the shuffle of the Colts win over the Bears was the performance of Bear rookie runningback Jordan Howard. For the second week in a row Howard cranked out a 100 yard game for Chicago with 118 yards on 16 carries for a 5.8 average. And 57 of those yards came on a beautiful run in the second quarter which set up the first Bears field goal. He had a 21 yard touchdown reception in the fourth quarter. The 6 ft., 222-pounder runs with power and speed. Born in Birmingham Alabama, Howard joined the Indiana University football squad last year and gained 1,213 yards despite missing significant time due to injuries. The Bears found him still available in the fifth round of the draft and took him. Despite only starting two games of four played, Howard has 296 yards rushed for and 51 carries for a 5.8 yard per carry average. He has also caught 12 passes for 122 yards and a touchdown. Chicago Bear fans revere a good running back and they may have found their next star in Jordan Howard!
snicewanger@yahoo.com