For the past several years, the Arkansas Razorbacks basketball has had a rather poor conference record in road games, as in 2-18 in the SEC in the three seasons since Mike Anderson took over a moribund program that had fallen a long way since the glories of the 1990s. The two road wins were both against a really lousy Auburn team that couldn't beat anyone.
Something unusual happened this past week. For the first time in history, the Razorbacks didn't wear their red road uniforms in a regular season game away from home. They were in Nashville opposite the Vanderbilt Commodores sporting new anthracite (read gray) colored jerseys. The result -- a last second victory against a team that rarely loses at home.
Almost immediately, sports blogs and sports commentators wondered aloud if the new anthracite (read gray) uniforms were just the edge the Hogs needed to snap their losing streak. The impetus for the new threads was from the Nike Corporation which supplies the University of Arkansas with their sports uniforms. It seems the contract calls for them to wear the anthracite color.
I can probably lay odds that the Hogs wore the anthracite threads in their game at Missouri last night. If they won that game, the anthracite suits will likely become their normal attire for the rest of the season. The Tigers handily defeated the Hogs in their previous match up in Bud Walton last month, so it seems the odds against Arkansas winning in Columbia were rather long. A win there would be -- lucky?
Anyone following sports is aware of sports superstitions and traditions that are held by followers of perhaps every sport there is. For reasons strange and sometimes downright weird, lots of people believe there are things outside the play on the field that wields great power concerning the outcome of athletic contests.
Baseball is the sport that leads the way in superstitions and traditions. None weirder or stranger than the "billy goat" curse that has supposedly bedeviled the Chicago Cubs since 1945.
Back in '45, the owner of the Billy Goat Tavern in Chicago always took his billy goat to Cubs games and was present during a game of the '45 World Series. With the Cubs ahead in the series, and safely ahead in the game that day, the goat and owner were ejected from the stadium because of the goat's odor. Before leaving, the owner pronounced a curse on the Cubs to the effect that they would never win another World Series game ever.
As luck would have it, they lost the game later that day as well as the rest of the games of that series, and haven't been back to the World Series since. In 2003, a group of fans traveled to Houston to the Astros field where the Cubs were playing. Outside the stadium, the Cubs brought up a live goat and read from a scroll some words that they hoped would lift the curse from '45.
It seemed to work, as the Cubs rallied to win the division and were winning the playoffs until something weird happened to seemingly revive the curse. In the fourth game, after leading two games to one, the Cubs had built a 3-0 with one out in the eighth. A fly ball was hit near outfield wall, but before the Cubs fielder could catch the ball, a Cubs fan reached out to catch the ball which allowed the Florida hitter to safely reach base. The Marlins then went on a tear to score eight runs immediately following that event, going on to win the rest of the games to keep the Cubs out of the World Series.
Is the goat curse still alive? Some say "yes."
It was said that Michael Jordan wore his University of North Carolina shorts under his Chicago Bulls shorts throughout his professional career. In baseball, they say it is bad luck to step on the foul line, or for non-pitchers to cross the mound. If a pitcher spits on the ground, he has to push dirt over it or it will attract bad luck also.
Personally, the first time I won a state track medal, I was wearing a University of Missouri T-shirt under my team jersey. So, of course, I wore that T-shirt for the rest of my high school track career as I deemed it good luck.
Back to curses, the first great curse was perhaps the Curse of the Bambino. That was when the Boston Red Sox traded Babe Ruth to the Yankees. At the time of the trade, the Red Sox had captured five World Series titles with the Yankees having none. After the trade, the Yanks won 26 titles before the Sox won another one.
The curse that touches Arkansas athletics is the Madden Curse, referring to the NFL video game controlled by football analyst John Madden. In all the years that the game has featured an NFL player on its cover, only one player avoided serious injury in the year following.
Arkansas' fullback Peyton Hillis was on the cover in 2011 after he had a tremendous season playing for Cleveland. After his cover picture, Hillis suffered illnesses and injuries and was finally cut, eventually playing for four teams in three years, most recently getting some playing time for New York.
Say what you will, there are those who believe in curses and good luck omens.
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Editor's note: John McGee is an award-winning columnist and sports writer. He is the art teacher at Pea Ridge elementary schools, coaches elementary track and writes a regular sports column for The Times. He can be contacted through The Times at [email protected].
Sports on 02/19/2014