# What is the most famous curse in sports history?

> An 86-year drought, a goat at Wrigley, a statue thrown into a river in Osaka. Superstition in its purest sporting form.

*By YPB Team · Published October 8, 2026 · https://youpick.best/ranking/what-is-the-most-famous-curse-in-sports-history*

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## Current results (no votes yet)

1. **Curse of the Bambino** — score 1000/1000
   Boston's 86-year title drought after selling Babe Ruth to the Yankees in 1920.
2. **Curse of the Billy Goat** — score 590/1000
   A tavern owner's goat was ejected from Wrigley Field in 1945, and the Cubs waited until 2016.
3. **Sports Illustrated cover jinx** — score 500/1000
   The belief that appearing on SI's cover brings a slump or a loss.
4. **Curse of the Black Sox** — score 500/1000
   The White Sox went 88 years without a title after the 1919 World Series fix.
5. **Curse of the Colonel** — score 500/1000
   Hanshin Tigers fans threw a Colonel Sanders statue into a river in 1985, and the club waited 38 years.
6. **Curse of 1940** — score 388/1000
   The New York Rangers burned their arena mortgage in 1941 and waited 54 years for another Stanley Cup.
7. **Curse of Bobby Layne** — score 0/1000
   The Detroit Lions traded Layne in 1958 and have not won an NFL title since.
8. **Curse of Billy Penn** — score 0/1000
   No Philadelphia team won a title from 1987, when a skyscraper topped William Penn's statue, until 2008.
9. **Andretti curse** — score 0/1000
   Mario Andretti won the 1969 Indianapolis 500, and no Andretti has won it since.

Tags: sports, baseball, legends, curses