The Theory of the Sports Jinx

I am not a superstitious man. Well, except when it comes to sports. For some reason, there is something intangible and almost supernatural about Team A's ability to receive the benefit of the perfect bounce at the perfect time and Team B's inability to keep a foot in bounds or know how much time is left on the clock.

How frequently does it occur that a basketball player is riding a streak of 30 consecutive made freethrows, only to have the announcer bring up the fact right before he attempts #31, only to watch it clank off the rim? Or for a field goal kicker to not miss a single field goal during the regular season, and then in the NFC championship game, with the game on the line, the announcer brings it up and, whoops, wide left?

And so this freaky phenomenon happened again to me while watching the Eagles-Broncos game. I'm watching it in the 1st quarter, and the Eagles are abysmal. McNabb goes Oh for his first 12 passing attempts, and the Broncos roll up 28 points before the Eagles can even generate a first down. "Screw it!" I say, and turn the game off, and try to forget about it. There's no way that the Eagles, playing that poorly, can ever come back.

90 minutes later, I log onto ESPN and check scores. It is now 28-14. "Well," I think, "At least they made it respectable." T.O. even ripped off a 91 yard TD to boot. So I refresh the screen one more time before continuing with my evening and, lo and behold, it is now 28-21! Could it be? Is a comeback in the midst?

Now here is the great perplexing dilemma of every sports fanatic. When you witness events like these, the superstition creeps in. You think, "They were terrible when I was watching, and when I turned it off they started to improve. Things may go their way if I can keep from turning it on." Somehow, my actions, some 2000 miles away, somehow has an impact on this game. It does, doesn't it?

Yet at the same time, you WANT to watch the comeback. You NEED to watch the comeback. There is no way that my actions, 2000 miles away, could possibly impact this game. So I turn the game on in the 4th quarter...

The TV brightens, and I can see that the Eagles have a first and 10 on the Broncos' 30 yard line, preparing to score again and tie the game. McNabb is back to pass, he's going for the end zone...interception. Ugh...

Now, there's still plenty of time left. It could be a fluke. They've still got plenty of chances...and the Broncos fly down the field and hit a 44 yard TD pass. Ok, this is bad...but there's still time left. I did NOT jinx them...

And then the Broncos get a 67 yard TD run. 42-21. Game over, man. Oh no, not yet, you say? Well, here's another TD run for the Broncos to add insult to humiliation. 49-21. Fantastic. Have a great evening, you idiot.

No, my actions didn't have any impact on this game.

So why did they?