Tampa Bay Rays "cursed"?

Dark Virtue

New Member
On the eve of the start of the World Series I ran across this article and wanted to know what you guys thought:

http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5hzIo0ZNahhMPThsXFctGPO9ym71gD93V4P880

Naturally, it evoked an eye roll or two or three from me...just wondering what your impression was.

The Devils Rays were absolutely horrible since their inception 10 years ago and very much so last year. This year they decided to drop "Devil" from their name and voila, they're in the World Series.

Coincidence? Or Divine redemption?

Discuss.
 
I clicked on the link and it freaked my virus software out.

Anyway, NO I would infadicaly say that the idea of a team being cursed cause they have the word devil in its name is from my point of view just Christianised superstition. My local Football team when i was growing up was called the Mountain Devils and they did fine. In the words of Dumbledore " fear of a name only increases fear of the thing itself". I wouldn't be jumping out of my skins to call my team the devils but I think that most sports team that use the term are not being sinister or worshipping evil spirits so i don't see how it could lead to a curse. Maybe others think differntly but that is my 2 cents worth.
 
lol sports, baseball in particular, are some of the most superstitious things ever. Its quiet funny actually. ;)

I know my dad has commented on the Rays losing their Devil and being good. Personally, its probably is just coincidence. But there is power in words. God spoke the Universe into creation. But if they have been so bad for the last 10 years, that means they should get some really good draft picks. So, they should have some good players (idk, I'm not a big baseball person)
 
The bottom of the article was helpful. I remember one of the Stanly Cup games with the New Jersey Devils. (2000, NJD vs Dallas. That was a fun series, and one of the only finals I managed to see all the way through).


I find superstition hilarious. If someone tells me not to do something because it is 'bad luck', I make it a point to do it anyway. :p
 
I'm gonna call it a yes and a no.

First, the no: many, many, teams in the world are called things like "Devils"... not all of them suck.

Secondly, the yes: Psychological factors like pessimism, optimism, and superstition have a lot to do with performance. If the team was convinced that they were cursed, by nature they would perform terribly.
The opposite is also true. Perhaps the best way to get them out of a slump would be to convince them all of the curse and then change the name. The resulting optimism ("We actually have a chance this year!!!") would enable them to perform their best.
 
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