If there is a people in the world who believe in esoteric, cabalistic or bad omen matters in sports, without a doubt the United States has a lot to say, and in sports matters these expressions are manifested in the most picturesque ways. They do not skimp on beliefs to keep bad luck away from their teams, whether to wear the same underwear, avoid wearing the number 13, do not step on the lime stripes when entering the field, among several methods to keep the bad luck away.
Of course baseball does not escape from this idiosyncrasy so typical of Americans, even more being one of the national pastimes of the North American country, the stories of "bad leg" can be told by the dozen, however the most picturesque of all is undoubtedly represented by the so-called "curse of the goat", involving the Chicago Cubs, one of the most popular teams in the Major Leagues, the owner of a bar and of course, Murphy, the famous goat protagonist of this singular event.
We always hear that popular phrase that says "no evil lasts 100 years" but in the case of Murphy the goat, his bad influence on the Chicago Cubs lasted 108 years. Although the events took place in 1945 (71 years before the end of the kettle with the victory of the team from the Windy City in 2016), both the press and the people attribute this special drought of triumphs to this particular animal and its eccentric master.
It all started minutes before the start of Game 4 of the World Series involving the local Chicago Cubs against the Detroit Tigers. There was a lot of expectation in the windy city since their team was up 2-1 in the series, they had a good chance of being crowned champions at home. William Sanis, owner of a popular bar in the city, did not want to miss this event and approached with his peculiar pet Murphy to the main turnstile of the stadium, by the way, both he and the goat had their respective tickets so Sanis considered that he would have no problem to enjoy the game at the stadium along with his best friend.
Unfortunately for both of them, Murphy's admission was denied, not because he was not a person, but because of the public's complaints about the animal's stench. As much as Sanis defended the right of entry to his pet, everything was unsuccessful, the direct order from the owner of the team to the security personnel was categorical: the goat does not enter. Sanis opted to tie Murphy to the turnstile and then left the stadium to later return with the following words written on a note: "the Chicago Cubs will never win the World Series until they let my goat in" and then he untied his goat and both went to his bar.
Once the Cubs were defeated, Mr. Sanis and his goat sent a telegram to the owner of the team saying: "Now who sucks"?
How could the bad luck have lated for 108 years when it hasn't been even eighty years since 1945?