The Curse of Brooklyn

[donzblock]

On this happy day, following the defeat of the LA team in the playoffs, I hereby proclaim the Curse of Brooklyn:

May the Chavez Ravine park crumble, may the fans of the LA Abomination be shocked into consciousness so that they will be fully aware of what it means to lose, and may the LA team experience a century of nothing but bitter defeat.

[DODGER DEB]

The Professor has come up with THE CURSE of BROOKLYN; something so appropriate I don't know WHY WE didn't think of it long before this time.

IT is just SO PERFECT!

I have made it into a "sticky", so it will remain OUR FOREVER "SENTIMENT" to that "left coast group".

c.

[LouGehrig]

Why couldn't you have done this before the 1963 WS?

[donzblock]

I was still in shock, Lou, from 1957. I wasn't thinking clearly. Also, the presence of Koufax on that team confused me.

[JACKIE42]

The Curse of Eddie Bennett. Eddie was the Brooklyn team mascot in 1920. He had been the good luck charm the season before with the Chicago White Sox, so he had a resume of sorts. Anyway, Eddie got the 1920 Dodgers into the World Series -- best of nine that fall, against the Indians. The Brooklynites were up two games to one, when they took to the road for four straight in Cleveland. It's not clear who made the next fatal decision, so we may as well blame a skinflint owner. Eddie was left behind.

Feeling betrayed and angry when he was denied the reward of a trip west, Eddie Bennett laid a curse on the Dodgers. The rest is history and you can look it up: Dodger Rube Marquard was arrested for scalping tickets before Game 4; in Game 5, Brooklyn was victimized by the only unassisted triple play to date in Series history (Bill Wambsganss), the first HR by a pitcher (Jim Bagby) and the first World Series grand slam (Elmer Smith.) They went on to lose the Series, and did not get into another one until 1941. Some might say the Curse peaked when the Dodgers moved to California. Eddie? He wound up with the Yankees, where he became the most famous mascot of all time. With Eddie (and another youngster name of Ruth), the Yanks won the next three AL pennants. Eddie got to go to the Series each October -- but his luck was running thin, all three were in NY vs the Giants!

[jaykay]

Why couldn't you have done this before the 1963 WS?
(snipped from Lou)

Sure, but.....
Why couldn't you have done this before the Dodgers left Brooklyn?
In other words, Professor, where were you when we needed you? True, you were still a mere lad in those days, but I have seen many movies in which the curses of young people were the most powerful of all. It was, you will admit, a clutch situation - to say the least. And since you were one of the greatest clutch performers in the history of punchball, would it have been asking too much of you to bring down dire imprecations (for starters) when the fate of the Brooklyn Dodgers was at stake? Here it is 47 years later, and NOW he's ready to put a curse on LA. As the French say: "Sacre bleu." As the Spanish say: "Santa Maria!" As the Tribes of Israel say: "Vey is mir."

If you'd spent less time on your poetry and more on your curses, the Dodgers might still be in Brooklyn.

[DODGER DEB]

The truth is, Jaykay, WHY didn't ANY of US think of this before today? So, I do not think it is fair to "blame" the Professor for what WE all could have done, had WE thought of it. The Professor just thought of it first!

However, there just might be something GOOD in this for US......who knows, if that "left coast group" tires of "OUR BROOKLYN CURSE", they just might pick themselves up, rid themselves of those "double crooked letters", and start all over again in BROOKLYN! You must agree, WE have seen stranger things happen.

c.

[EbtsFldGuy]

Originally Posted by donzblock

On this happy day, following the defeat of the LA team in the playoffs, I hereby proclaim the Curse of Brooklyn:

May the Chavez Ravine park crumble, may the fans of the LA Abomination be shocked into consciousness so that they will be fully aware of what it means to lose, and may the LA team experience a century of nothing but bitter defeat.

This "curse" is only 47 years and 2 world championships late.

There is, of course only one curse in MLB - the one felt by the club which plays in the park closest in size and ambience to our beloved Ebbets Field.

With good fortune, that will end this year. (What Brooklyn Dodger fan could ever root for the crowd from River Avenue and 161st Street)

As for the hope for crumble of Chavez Ravine, I'd say the USA has had its share of that sort of stuff.

[donzblock]

I take full responsibility for not invoking the curse sooner. Why didn't I see then what I had to do? It is so clear now that I will kick myself into the grave for a failure of nerve that lasted 47 years, but the Curse at last has been summoned, and nothing can stop it: it comes from the bowels of Bay Ridge, the solar plexus of Park Slope, and the rumbling horrors of Red Hook. It recalls the fading fields of Flatbush and cries out for revenge, revenge, revenge!

[DODGER DEB]

Originally Posted by donzblock

I take full responsibility for not invoking the curse sooner. Why didn't I see then what I had to do? It is so clear now that I will kick myself into the grave for a failure of nerve that lasted 47 years, but the Curse at last has been summoned, and nothing can stop it: it comes from the bowels of Bay Ridge, the solar plexus of Park Slope, and the rumbling horrors of Red Hook. It recalls the fading fields of Flatbush and cries out for revenge, revenge, revenge!

Could WE get GREENPOINT in there, too?

c.

[donzblock]

From the gangrenous gorges of Greenpoint....

[JACKIE42]

Curse's don't work, in 1957 me and my friends put a curse on the O'M and the LALA,that they would never win a WS, it took them only 2 years to do so, so much for curse's.

[donzblock]

You can't just utter a curse. A good one requires a lot of preparation, intense concentration, and pathological insanity. This one will work.

[The Commissioner]

Originally Posted by donzblock

You can't just utter a curse. A good one requires a lot of preparation, intense concentration, and pathological insanity. This one will work.

Yeah, right. Not a chance.

Sincerely,
Odalis Perez, Jeff Weaver, and Wilson Alvarez

[JACKIE42]

Originally Posted by donzblock

You can't just utter a curse. A good one requires a lot of preparation, intense concentration, and pathological insanity. This one will work.

Believe me Professor we did a lot of preparation, and intense concentration, and we were as crazy as hell. The only thing we didn't do and this could make a difference between your curse and ours, is we didn't actually call what we did a curse it was either a hex or the Bedford Ave. whammy, im not sure which. I remember we built a fire on the play ground at P.S.241 we then did an Indian type war dance and sacrificed a Giant fan, a guy we really hated even had he not been a Giant fan, his parents approved of what we did as they were both Brooklyn fans. Well here's hoping your curse is more affective then what ever the hell we did.

[donzblock]

The sacrifice was a neat but unnecessary touch because you were using a whammy or a hex. Since both are far inferior to curses, the sacrifice was nothing more than overkill. My curse is genuine and, unlike most curses, supported by 47 years of unparalleled futility and aimlessness. And of course your lunacy was just getting started. Mine is fully mature. The LA team might as well be non-existent during this century.

[JACKIE42]

Originally Posted by donzblock

The sacrifice was a neat but unnecessary touch because you were using a whammy or a hex. Since both are far inferior to curses, the sacrifice was nothing more than overkill. My curse is genuine and, unlike most curses, supported by 47 years of unparalleled futility and aimlessness. And of course your lunacy was just getting started. Mine is fully mature. The LA team might as well be non-existent during this century.

Actually the sacrifice was under kill, we wanted to also sacrifice a Yankee fan, but the only one in the neighborhood wasn't home. I agree that a hex and a whammy are inferior to curses, my hope is that yours works, only time will tell. I will be satisfied if your curse lasts as long as the Bambinos.

[donzblock]

Originally Posted by JACKIE42

Actually the sacrifice was under kill, we wanted to also sacrifice a Yankee fan, but the only one in the neighborhood wasn't home. I agree that a hex and a whammy are inferior to curses, my hope is that yours works, only time will tell. I will be satisfied if your curse lasts as long as the Bambinos.

Sacrificing a Yankee fan might have made the difference.

[tonypug]

A curse. Isn't that what Milton Bradley was yelling at that reporter? The professors curse and Milton Bradley should do the trick.

[donzblock]

Milton Bradley alone would be enough to doom the LA team. The curse will kick in whenever he doesn't play and/or once he departs.

[JACKIE42]

Im not up on LALA baseball, but isn't Milton Bradley the guy who invented the Monopoly game?

[donzblock]

Yes, Milton invented Monopoly, and between his ears he has a pair of loaded dice.

[DODGER DEB]

Originally Posted by donzblock

Yes, Milton invented Monopoly, and between his ears he has a pair of loaded dice.

And just think, it's been said that this "left coast group" doesn't have an "eye" for talent?

c.

[strummer]

I think the place from which a curse emminates contributes significantly to its believeability (rather than credibility). Therefore I would suggest that we refer to the "gangrenous gorges of Greenpoint" and Gravesend", in order to include that wonderful area of Brooklyn from which curses would have to be accepted as true and effective.

[tonypug]

I wonder what Jackie would have to say about Milton Bradley?