Breaking the "Curse"

Well, it's finally time for the World Series, and much like everyone was expecting all season long, one of the teams has a shot to end a long, dark, championship drought.

However, it's not the team everyone was "expecting." That team would be the Chicago Cubs, who initially lived up to their pre-season hype, having the best record in the NL and looking like clear favorites to return to the World Series for the first time since 1945, with an excellent chance to win their first World Series since 1908. That would be 100 years ago, if you hadn't heard or couldn't do the math...

Instead, however, my beloved Phildelphia Phillies have only 4 wins in 7 games against the Tampa Bay Rays standing between them and ending the roughly 100 season championship drought for the city of Philadelphia. That's right, despite fielding a team in each of the 4 major professional sports, it's been 25 years since the city of Philadelphia had a championship parade down Broad Street, the last one being for the 76ers NBA title in 1983.

When such a drought occurs, it's cliche to look for a reason, and the "answer" is often some sort of curse. The most famous sports curse was the "Curse of the Bambino", which was attributed to the Boston Red Sox 86 year championship drought following their sale of Babe Ruth to the Yankees. That curse was "broken" in 2004, and the Red Sox won a second title just last year. The Cubs "curse" has something to do with a Billy Goat. And the most famous explanation for the woes of the Philly sports teams is the "Curse of Billy Penn". The statue of William Penn atop Philly's City Hall was long the highest point in the city. However, shortly after the 76ers title game, plans were drawn up for One Liberty Place, which opened in 1987 and was the first building to exceed the height of the Penn statue. The rest, as they say is history.

Curses are fun to talk about, and it's nice media fodder, and you know, I think some people actually buy into them. However, whether the Phillies win or lose this week (and whether the Cubs, Red Sox, etc win or lose) has nothing to do with any curse. It will solely come down to whether the Phillies play better than the Rays over the next week plus. The idea of a curse is particularly laughable in Philly. The nice run of success that ended with the 76ers '83 title may have made people forget this fact, but failure has always been the rule and success the exception in Philly sports. Every Philly franchise has been in the city for at least 40 years, with the Phillies being around for all of 125 years. That's over 250 seasons of professional sports, with 6 championships (1 MLB, 1 NFL (pre-Super Bowl era), 2 NBA, and 2 NHL). Everyone waxes poetic about the Cubs and their hundred years of ineptitude, but, while they've had the longest current streak without a championship for about 30 years (I think), they only recently passed the Phillies, who went 98 years from their inception until their first championship of any kind, with their 1980 World Series title. The Phillies, are in fact, the losingest franchise in professional sports, having "celebrated" their 10,000th loss last season.

The "curse" in Philadelphia has nothing do with William Penn, or any other mythical force. The city, throughout its sports history, has been cursed with bad ownership, bad management, bad talent, etc. And it's not like Philly has this long history of close calls, chokes, injuries, etc. The teams just haven't been good enough, period. And honestly, I think that's why sports "curses" are so prevalent - it's a solid form of denial for a fan base.

So, while I'm not going to do a detailed analysis and breakdown of the World Series, complete with predictions, after all, my objectivity is slightly compromised here, I will say this - the 2008 Phillies have a very legitimate chance to be the 2008 World Series champions. On paper, this is probably one of the very best chances a Philly team has had going into a title game/series. And win or lose, Mr. Penn won't have one say in the outcome, nor will any other weird or quirky piece of history.

However, for those who enjoy such things, and perhaps are already thinking doom and gloom with relation to this edition of the Phillies, allow me to feed you some historical tidbits that make things "look bad" for the Phils, despite having no actual connection to the 2008 Phillies or Rays, just for fun:
- The Phillies played the Dodgers in the NLCS this year. In all previous times this occurred, the winner went on to lose the World Series to a team from the AL East.
- The Phillies have lost 4 World Series in their franchise history, once to each of the four current members of the AL East other than Tampa.
- Tampa pro sports teams have never lost in the championship round, with the Bucs having won their only Super Bowl, and the Lightning having won their only trip to the Stanley Cup Finals. Furthermore, both those title teams defeated their Philly counterparts in the conference championship round on the way to those titles.

Enjoy!