Basketbawful

Wednesday, February 22, 2006

stat curse (stat kurs) 1. noun. The misfortune that occurs immediately after someone (usually a commentator) cites a positive statistical trend related to a given team or player. 2. verb. stat curse, stat cursed, stat cursing. Calling down evil or injury by citing a positive statistic related to a given team or player; the act of performing a stat curse.

Usage example: Marv Albert stat cursed Steve Nash last night by mentioning that Nash had hit his last six shots from the field. So of course Steve missed his next shot.

Word Trivia: How many times have you lived this experience? You're watching your favorite team play. Their star player steps up to the charity stripe for critical, game-saving free throws. The commentator casually mentions that he's 10-for-10 from the line in the game, and an 89 percent free throw shooter for the year. The player then bricks one or both of the 'throws. Yep, we've all been there. The stat curse is one of the most powerful enchantments the world has ever known. Anyone can invoke one: commentators, sideline reporters, fans, etc. However, you can't "trick" the stat curse. It only works if the invocation is a sincere recitation of an authentic statistic. For instance, you can't make Greg Ostertag miss a free throw by saying, "Boy, Greg sure is a good free throw shooter." The stat curse knows better than that, and the dark powers may allow Ostertag to go on a free throw shooting streak, just to mess with you.

Is Papa Shongo responsible for thestat curse? We may never know.

4 Comments:

Anonymous said...

lols the truest shit i've ever read

8/17/2006 1:02 AM

Anonymous said...

so true its not even funny

8/17/2006 1:03 AM

Anonymous said...

It's Papa Shango, AKA The Godfather. Real name: Charles Wright. Yes, I'm a huge fucking dork.

6/04/2008 11:33 AM

Anonymous said...

poor greg ostertag!

8/23/2009 10:03 PM