Mets SI Jinx

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Someone scream "April Fools!"

Please?

Oy, we are done for. Kaput. Reduced to zilch. Absolutely destined to fail. Have zero chance of winning. Cursed. Jinxed. Potential-less. Unlucky. Say it as you wish but 2009 will not be a happy season for the New York Mets.

As you can tell from the title -- which I specifically wrote as such for when people google "Mets SI Jinx" they will see my page first -- the Mets should just pack their bags now. When people open up their mail tomorrow morning or grab a Sports Illustrated Magazine from their local convenient store before their early morning commute they will notice a bold prediction from our (x) friends at SI stating on the cover that the New York Mets are going to be World Champions in 2009. According to the bewitched writers: The Mets make the playoffs, defeat the Dodgers in the NLDS (just like in 2006), go on to beat the Cubs in the NLCS (101 years and counting...) and then close out the Angels in the World Series (emphasis on the "closing out" since that would be K-Rod saying good night to his former team).

How sad. The pitching was looking solid, the position players were ready to go, and the fans were looking forward to a fresh new start in the brand new Citi Field.

Dream Over.

Is it worse to collapse towards the end of the season and have it culminate into defeat as a result of the final game or to have your heart broken a week before it even begins? They're both stinky. Who cares which is which. I'm so glad I did not renew my subscription to Sports Illustrated four months ago. Not only do I have to be brought bad tidings, I have to pay for it as well? Uh Uh. Not in my house.

I would go on and on and say how "The Jinx" is not going to affect us but so many people in the past have tried doing so and have come out on the losing side.

First of all, for all those who are not familiar with this jinx, let's explain: The Sports Illustrated Jinx is a myth that states that individuals or teams who appear on the cover of the Sports Illustrated magazine will subsequently experience bad luck. The only 5 people who were known to not be affected by the curse were Michael Jordan, Muhammad Ali, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Magic Johnson and Jack Nicklaus. The Fab Five have appeared on the cover of SI a total of 166 times, over the course of 41 years, and the exposure hardly impeded their careers.

But few are that lucky...

• Wilbur Wood of the Chicago White Sox, who was 13-3 when he made a 1973 cover appearance, lost eight of his next nine decisions.

• Swimmer Carin Cone, unbeaten in the 100-meter backstroke for four years leading up to the '60 Olympic trials, failed to qualify for the Games after her cover.

• Golfer Doug Sanders and his wife, Joan, shared a cover in January '62 and were divorced less than a year later.

• Two months after Steve Cauthen's cover in '77, the leg of his mount, Baystreak, was broken in a three-horse pileup, and Cauthen suffered multiple fractures and required 25 stitches.

This is just a list of the few who faced a fate chosen for them from a bunch of writers in New York.

And even Sports Illustrated admits it:

It afflicts athletes who have scarcely begun their careers: The Royals' Clint Hurdle, THIS YEAR'S PHENOM (1978), wasn't, and Tony Mandarich of the Packers, THE BEST OFFENSIVE LINE PROSPECT EVER ('89), was suspect from his first snap until he retired; high school pitching phenom Jon Peters, '89's SUPERKID, hurt his right arm in college and wound up as student manager at Texas A&M. It waylays those who have finished their careers: Ted Williams tripped over his dog and broke his hip within a few weeks of an appearance in '96. It even touches those who seem to be composting contentedly in the grave: Several weeks after Babe Ruth graced the cover in '99, old film footage surfaced giving credence to longstanding doubts that the Bambino really called his legendary called shot. Bill Parcells is a longtime Jinx believer. After his New England Patriots won the '96 AFC title game, Parcells phoned his daughter Jill, who worked in his team's events-marketing department, to bark two words: "No cover."

According to SI, it has been 2,713 Covers and from that there were 926 Victims. Well, starting tomorrow we'll have 2,714 covers and 927 victims.

There was even a year that no one or team wanted to pose for the SI Cover Shoot. Talk about a plague.



ESPN Magazine wishes it could have publicity like this (well, if their pages were any bigger they wouldn't need any publicity since they'd be about half the size of a highway billboard).

Note: This is 1/60th of its Actual Size

There is really nothing worth talking about, except to speculate how the Mets are going to actually flop. Will Johan trip off the mound and break a leg? Will K-Rod blow 63 saves? Will Duaner Sanchez be in a terrible taxi accident and shatter his right shoulder?

Hey, maybe that's it. Maybe this is all working retroactively. Perhaps, and bear with me, the Mets did their share of miserable losing and now they are being placed on the cover to balance the sports heavens out? Nah, the Mets have been losing because they were placed on the cover in 2006.



This just means that they're due for another 3 years of misfortune and bad luck.

Sigh.

After all, you can't spell "sigh" without SI.