I'm not a very superstitious person. I never really followed any pre-game rituals growing up and I did not think wearing your lucky blue shorts underneath your uniform without washing them all season would make you good. That's just gross.
So Sunday when I finally got my latest issue of Sports Illustrated, with that annoyingly cocky picture of Dee Brown on the cover, I really didn't think much of it. Then my lovely fellow sports writer Kate IM'ed me and told me that Ohio State beat Illinois by a shot at the buzzer. This news surprised me but, more importantly, it brought a big smile to my face as I looked at my Sports Illustrated and thought to myself, \Ha ha, Dee.""
And then I looked at the cover again-but this time I was a little bit more puzzled.
Illinois was 29-0 heading into the final Big Ten game and more importantly, prior to the SI cover. The issue dropped last week, Illinois said goodbye to a perfect season and are the next victims of the SI cover curse. Could it be? Is there such a thing?
Let's take a look back to where it all began on Aug. 16, 1954. This was the first-ever issue of the magazine. A picture of Eddie Matthews at bat under the lights of legendary Milwaukee County Stadium was on the cover. Exactly one week later, Matthews became the first victim of the curse when he hurt his hand, causing him to miss seven games. Just a fluke, a coincidence, right? Well before the '50s were up, six more people suffered the curse-some more severely than others.
Then came the '60s. Laurence Owen was a figure skater pictured on the Feb. 13, 1961 cover and, two days later, she and the rest of her U.S. skating team were killed in a plane crash. Fourteen more curses were added to the list throughout the decade.
During the '70s, 16 victims were added, including the downfall of stuntman Evel Knievel when he failed to complete his infamous Snake River Canyon jump after his picture on the Sep. 2, 1974, issue. I know I was sad about that one.
In the '80s, 20 more were added and the '90s produced 16 more curse cases. I don't know if you can really consider Dennis Rodman taking a leave of absence from the Lakers to finalize his divorce with Carmen Electra after his March 8, 1999 cover shot as a curse. Anything to get rid of Rodman sounds more like a blessing to me.
Here we are now in 2005, with 12 covers already added. Three years have passed since the last curse and unfortunately for Illinois, it was their time. Personally, I'm a little upset with SI on their timing. If they wanted to curse the Illini, why not do it the week before they rained on our Kohl Center parade? Thanks, SI.
But is this curse for real? Are the Illini going to go on a losing streak when it matters most and be remembered for choking in the end? Doubtful. I hate to admit it, but Illinois is too good to start a string of bad luck. If the curse does stick around, I really would not have any objections.
Betsy is a sophomore majoring in sociology and journalism at some point. She can be reached for comment at eagolomski@wisc.edu.
