The Curse of Ryan

I often have spirited discussions with friends and acquaintances who root for the NY Yankees. If you live in the NYC area, you know the type; the one's who always bring up 26 World Championships, 1986 as the last year the NY Mets won the series, etc. These discussions always end up with me winning this battle of wits, because: 1) they are ill-prepared for my devastating rips, and 2) they've been drinking the Yankee Kool-aid for way too long.

So let me let you in on a little secret: the NY Yankees have been under the spell of The Curse of Ryan since they last won the series. What is The Curse of Ryan, you ask? Let's digress.

Obviously you all know the famous ones - Curse of the Bambino, finally exorcised in 2004; there is the Curse of the Billy Goat, which is still going strong, but looks like it has chance to graze no more; and a lot of people, especially them's in New England point to the Curse of A-Rod. Well how about the more obscure curses - like the Curse of the ex-Cubs, which has not always been fool-proof, but has a pretty good batting average all the same; or the Curse of Pedro Borbon.

Liking the whole voodoo of the curse factor, I propose that The Curse of Ryan is now in full effect. So here's the tale.

On October 26, 2000, a young man was born named Ryan. His dad (that would be me) is a HUGE METS FAN (all caps on that). The evening of 10/26/2000 was also the night the Mets lost the World Series to the Yanks at Shea. Bittersweet, since the birth of my second son was so joyous, but sad because my Mets lost. So Ryan placed the curse that night, for the Yankees to never win the WS again.

And, yes, I know, they got there in 2001, but the kid was a year old folks. The little guy's mojo wasn't too strong yet. Every year though, he gets older and the curse is getting stronger. He's 7 now, and the Curse is keeping the NYY down in the standings. By the time he's 13, the Yankees will resemble the KC Royals!

So a message to you all - he won't take it off, and you all have your celebrating at Shea on that night to blame. Light a candle, say a novena, because it's on.

Note: Pick up Baseball's Most Wanted if you want to read about a ton of BB oddities. Great read.