Owning Failure Leads to Success

Some people believe that there are forces in the universe completely out of their control, which determine their fate and keep them from succeeding.  Popular culture has a term for this phenomenon: The Jinx.

An example of a jinx in sports is the Chicago Cubs.

During a World Series game against Detroit in 1908, Billy Sianis, who owned a goat named Billy Goat Tavern, was asked to leave the stadium because the goat’s odor was unbearable to other fans. While leaving the stadium, Sianis said, “The Cubs, they ain’t going to win no more.”

Since the 1908 season, the Cubs haven’t won the World Series. In fact, during the 1970’s, the Cubbies were known as the “lovable losers” for their pathetic play.

Many blame the Cub’s World Series drought on the curse of the Billy Goat.  By kicking out the goat and its owner, they jinxed themselves.

I don’t buy it.

If the Cubs were good enough, they would have won a World Series championship. Their play on the field is not the result of a jinx. It’s because they lack fundamentals.

Since 1911, according to MLB.com, the Cubbies have had only 1 season where the team has won over 100 games. In this same span, according to MLB.com, the Cubs have only won the National League (NL) Central 10 times.

If the Cubs had a better pitching staff and timely hitting, they would have made it to the Fall Classic more often.

I’ll cite the Boston Red Sox as evidence that the jinx is not a real phenomenon.

Famously, the Red Sox sold Babe Ruth to the New York Yankees. The team’s subsequent championship drought came to be known as the Curse of the Bambino.

For the Red Sox, the so called jinx was used to explain nearly a century of failures. In the 1986 World Series against the New York Mets, Red Sox’s first baseman Bill Buckner had a ground ball go under his legs, forcing a game 7. The Red Sox then went on to lose the seventh game to the Mets.

Many blame the Curse of the Bambino for Buckner’s error. However, Buckner controlled his actions.  He simply made a mistake, perhaps as a result of the pressure associated with making a play that would have earned a world championship.

Even before Buckner’s play, the Red Sox were showing signs of unraveling. Going into the inning, the Red Sox were up 5-3, and only needed 3 outs to win the World Series. The Mets had three hits in the inning, and a wild pitch scored the tying run.

The pressure of closing out a big game is real.  A jinx is not.

The Red Sox lacked the collective poise to win.

Unlike the 1986 squad, the 2004 Red Sox had the mental focus to get through the World Series and win. The Yankees were up 3 games to 0 heading into game 4, and Boston was on the brink of elimination.

This Red Sox team showed fortitude, and won 4 straight games against the Yankees, 2 of which were played in the Bronx. If there was such a thing as a curse or a jinx, the Red Sox would not have won 4 straight against their arch rivals.

In this sweep, the Red Sox showed that fundamentals of hitting and pitching are what earn a championship.

Superstition might be an easy out, but it is not the what determines success or failure in sport.

Some of the golf tournaments that I play in allow parents to watch. My father once attended a tournament in which I played quite poorly. At first, I thought his presence was going to be a kind of curse.  That for some mystical reason I would always lose when he watched me play.

But then I gave myself a reality check. I realized that the reason for my high score was the flaw in my swing. Once I fixed my swing, I had him come and watch another tournament.

I had a great round and placed well.  Dad is not a jinx.

The same holds true for school. At first, I struggled with multiple choice questions in my AP European History class. I thought that I carried some kind of curse because I have historically had a difficult time scoring well on multiple choice questions.

Then I changed my study routine, put in more time, and began to earn higher test scores.  No goats were sacrificed to the scholastic gods.

When we blame our failures on something out of our control, like a curse, a jinx or some other supernatural force, we simply delay the action that must be taken to turn things around.

Once we are willing to take responsibility for our own failures, we are able to address them, learn from them. and take appropriate steps to ensure the failures do not repeat themselves.