From Billy Goat to Billy Penn, sports' cursed lot span the globe

You can’t outsmart a guy like William “Billy Goat” Sianis. When he bought the Lincoln Bar in Chicago in 1934, his $205 cheque bounced. When the previous owner dropped by with a cop two weeks later, Sianis paid him with cash from the till, and added a little extra so there would be no hard feelings. And when a goat wandered into the bar and caused a sensation, people started calling Sianis "Billy Goat" – so he grew a goatee, changed the name of the bar to the Billy Goat Tavern and bought a pet goat that he named Billy. And when the Republican convention came to town in 1944, he put a “No Republicans Allowed” sign in the front window. In minutes, the bar was packed with Republicans demanding to be served.

When the Cubs made it to the 1945 World Series, the ever-sharp Sianis saw a golden marketing opportunity. It was the team’s seventh trip to the Series since they had last won in 1908. The whole city was alive with excitement, so Sianis took Billy to Game 4. But when some patrons complained about the smell, Sianis and Billy were escorted out of the stadium. Enraged, Sianis is reported to have said: “Them Cubs, they aren’t gonna win no more.”

They didn’t. They dropped three straight games, lost the Series to the Tigers and hadn’t been back until now, with Friday’s return to the Fall Classic at that same Wrigley Field from which Billy was tossed 71 years ago.

The Billy Goat Curse might be the best-known hex that haunts sports fans around the world, but it’s hardly the only one.

Sometimes, the curse isn’t just against a team but a whole city. For decades, the builders in Philadelphia had an unwritten agreement that no building in the city would ever be taller than the statue of William Penn on top of city hall. And for most of that time, the city’s teams enjoyed successful seasons and several championships. But in 1985, 2 Liberty Place, a skyscraper, was erected and it towered over Billy Penn. The local teams made it to several finals after that, only to suffer heartbreaking losses. In 2007, an even taller building, the Comcast Center, was built. Ironworkers John Joyce and Dan Ginion placed a small statue of Penn on top. After it was stolen, they welded another little Billy to the top. The Phillies then won the 2008 World Series, the first championship in the city since 1983.

The same kind of hubris struck the Hanshin Tigers. When they won a Nippon Baseball League championship in 1985, riotous fans stole a statue of Colonel Sanders because it looked a little like series MVP Randy Bass and accidentally dropped it into the Dōtonbori River. Not only did the Tigers not win a championship after that, they finished dead last in 10 of the next 17 seasons. Workers building a boardwalk in 2009 found the statue, but it was missing some pieces and the KFC outlet that owned it no longer existed. The team commissioned a restoration job and presented it to KFC Japan, which now displays it — securely bolted down — at the franchise nearest the Tigers’ stadium. It hasn’t helped.

Sometimes it’s the players who invoke the supernatural. Back in 1970, the Australian national soccer team was in Mozambique to play a World Cup qualifier against Rhodesia (now known as Zimbabwe). On a lark, the Socceroos visited a self-proclaimed witch doctor and asked him to curse their opponents. The man buried some bones on the pitch and cursed the Rhodesians. Underdog Australia won 3-1, but the players could not come up with the £1,000 the witch doctor demanded, so he cursed them. Australia lost to Israel and was eliminated. It was not until after comedian John Safran traveled to Mozambique and hired another witch doctor to reverse the curse in 2004 that the Socceroos qualified for the World Cup. They have not missed one since.

Another curse was lifted in 1979 when journalist Rafael Medina and pop singer Antonio del Vilar performed what they called an exorcism in Pascual Guerrero Stadium, the home field of América de Cali of the Colombian league. Back in 1948, there was a meeting among the team’s owners to change leagues. According to legend, one of them men was so angry he left the meeting, shouting “they can do whatever they want with the team, but I swear to God they will never be champions” and never returned. But they didn’t win any national titles until the ceremony, and then five straight after it and seven more in the following years.

Of the curses that are still active, some Canadians believe that Habs coach Jacques Demers brought one on the whole country when he requested an on-ice measurement of Kings’ tough guy Marty McSorley’s stick during Game 2 of the 1993 Stanley Cup. While it was true that McSorley’s stick had a bit too much curve to it, the hockey gods are said to have frowned on such a petty move by Demers, especially after the Canadiens scored with McSorley in the penalty box, forcing overtime and taking home the Cup. Since then, no Canadian-based team has won the Cup, while the Kings have won twice.

At least with those curses, there are clear causes, which means there is a potential solution. Unfortunately for Maple Leafs fans, nobody knows exactly what happened back in 1967 that damned them to 49 seasons without a Stanley Cup appearance.