THE REAL MLB CURSE

(Note: Though I wrote this blog a day or two ago, I'm only getting to post it today...an hour after learning that Josh Hancock was legally drunk when he crashed and died last weekend. I'll leave that issue for a later time; to me it doesn't matter how it happened, just that it happened)

Now that the Boston Red Sox are obnoxiously celebrating their World Series championship and getting over their own “curse”, that leaves the Cubs as baseball’s lovable losers.

No World Series since before there were 50 states. Curse of the Goat, Curse of Bartman, Curse of Wood and Prior’s spaghetti arms…call it whatever you will.

In some ways, the Cubs can only be thankful that the “curse” they have is not as bad as one their rivals have.

With Josh Hancock’s death this past weekend in an auto accident, the St. Louis Cardinals are struggling to recover yet again. Ever since Y2K passed, the “Y” (or why if you will) has hung around Busch.

Every time something good has happened to the Redbirds, it has been met with something bad.

In 2001, Albert Pujols came out of nowhere as a squeaky-clean, MVP candidate and face of the franchise. The Cards missed out barely on the World Series.

A year later, the team had to face the death of longtime announcer and ambassador Jack Buck. Though tragic and a blow to the team, Buck was old and could not go on forever; he had been sick for sometime.

If that wasn’t enough, five days later, ace Darryl Kile unexpectedly passed from a heart condition. Just as the Cardinal nation was getting past one disaster, another punched them in the gut.

Now, months after celebrating their first World Series title in 25 years, the Cards are recovering again with Hancock’s passing.

You can’t help but feel for the group of players who survived 2002 and now this. Even when the Indians lost Steve Olin and Tim Crews in the early 90s boat crash, it came all at once, lumping the mourning into one period. Now, the Cardinals are forced again to pull their strength together.

Are the Cardinals “cursed”? It’s probably without reason, but they have been the most troubled team since the turn of the millennium. They’ve been the Def Leppard of ballclubs—every time you think you’ve gotten over the ultimate hurdle, another about 12 feet taller stands in front of you.

Maybe the real curse lies in the Cubs-Cards series. The last two times St. Louis has battled inner death, they’ve been playing the Cubs. If I were on either one of those teams, I would be petrified to see the schedule in the near future if it has them playing in primetime.

A great article on a blog Freudianly titled “Deadspin” cites Hancock’s impactà “His sudden departure -- shocking, horrible, insane -- makes us feel as if we have lost something that we never realized we had. We want to go back and cheer harder for him, forgive his mistakes more easily ... treat him as human in a way we never did as a mere fan. He shifts from middle reliever to human being only in death; this can drive a fan mad with guilt and confusion” (http://deadspin.com/sports/josh-hancock/rip-josh-hancock-256275.php)

In addition, the loyal Cardinals fans who had good relationships with both Kile and Hancock are left to face the mourning again…cursed or not.

“There really is ‘Cardinal love’. After a big win, as the crush of fans makes their way from Busch Stadium, the atmosphere is electric. Cardinals’ fans from different cities and different backgrounds unite together through thick and thin. We can celebrate the good. We can recover from the bad.” (http://apps.dennews.com/blog/?p=196)