The Cubs are gone, still laboring under a curse. My wife explained the true character of a curse to me a few years ago. There is a restaurant near us that has opened and closed a half dozen times under different ownership. Great location. Cursed. My wife said that the essence of the curse was that the owners would hear about the curse and believe it. It's all psychological. Once you believe you're cursed, you're screwed. At some psychic level, you start working against yourself.
Mike Francesa, the sports guy, said pretty much the same thing on his TV show the other day, speaking of the Mets, who have now famously folded two seasons in a row in the stretch. The Mets have some great stars, but Francesa said they all lack some vital piece of software: belief. He recalled that when Pete Rose went to the Phillies in 1980, he looked All-Star veterans like Mike Schmidt in the eye and said, "You don't know how to win, I'm going to show you how to win." The Phillies won the World Series that year, their only world championship. Francesa says that the Mets need a player like that now. And so do the Cubs.
The key to undoing a curse is to forget that you were ever cursed. That's why fans hold up BELIEVE signs. They understand the psychology.
