By the time this airs, the World Series will be over. Recall game six of the NLCS; the Cubs were up 5-0 in the ninth, yet the crowd looked terrified and nervous. Any other team, and this lead would have produced smiles and excitement.
Let me turn back the clock to about six months ago: I made a decision to go cold turkey in regards to superstition. It may sound silly, but it had become a problem.
Now, many jokingly apply superstition to sports all the time – especially baseball; but I had gotten to a point where I believed that a post-game Facebook status had to be carefully crafted lest I jinx my team the following day. When I say it out loud, it sounds like crazy talk.
The problem for me was that it transcended sports. To think positively was to invite heartache and trouble. I was living in that ninth inning – all because I chose to believe in something that was an invention.
And as I watched Saturday night, I realized that an entire city, and entire fan-base, was trapped in believing an invention: the curse – a curse that has no basis in reality but certainly has real-world ramifications, if one chooses to believe it.
So, rather than say the curse is lifted (or not, depending on the outcome), let’s change the narrative to the fact that there was never a curse in the first place. That to even entertain such a notion is crazy talk.
And to the Cub fans out there -- remember, my Cardinals will be waiting with a sign above Busch Stadium: Your goats are welcome here.
I’m Michael Perry, and that’s my perspective.
