The Curse of Chango

The story varies from person to person. Everyone agrees that it occurred after the 2000 Subway Series, shortly after yet another Yankee championship, their fourth in five years. Some say it may have been spurred on when over zealous Yankee fans taunted the wrong group of Mets fans. Some say it took place in a basement on Roosevelt Avenue, where Chango, the God of Thunder, was summoned amongst sacrificial chickens and Santeria candles. Still others point to the story of a Jamaican voodoo priestess whose hex began when she was arrested for attempting to steal dirt from the pitcher’s mound of Yankee Stadium on Halloween night 2000. Regardless of which story you point to, there is more than a little belief that the newest curse in Major League Baseball is alive and well somewhere around 161st Street in the Bronx.

Yankees fans tend to scoff at the idea of this curse, fearing it no more than they do the Mets themselves. But with the latest turn of events, including the worst collapse and greatest choke in Major League Baseball history, shortly followed by a World Series Championship by their arch-nemesis, the Boston Red Sox, those in Pinstripes, and those who support them, might do well to start believing.

In early 2001 the curse was in its infancy, still whispered about by confident Mets fans, and dismissed by just about everyone else. On November 4, 2001 the tide began to turn. The Yankees went into the ninth inning with a 2-1 lead and Mariano Rivera on the mound, usually a recipe for postseason success. But with a charge from the broken bat of Luis Gonzalez and a little help from the heavens above, a soft liner reached just beyond Jeter's grasp and Jay Bell scored to give the Diamondbacks a 3-2 win for their 1st World Series victory. Some say the hit was a fluke, a freakish occurrence that could never be duplicated. Others, still mostly in Queens, knew better, and left fruit baskets outside Shea as a tribute of thankfulness to Chango.

2002 found the curse gaining steam in the ALDS against the Angels. Entering the playoffs yet again as the best team in baseball, the Yankees thought that they would make quick work of the wild card Angels. They thought wrong. Only twice in their storied history had they given up a 5 run lead in the playoffs and never before had they lost back to back leads beyond the 8th inning in a playoff series. Both of those statistics, as well as the Yankees themselves, were put to rest though, behind phenom Francisco Rodriguez and the dreaded Rally Monkey. Yet again, gifts of thanks were bestowed upon Chango by Met faithful, who were quite aware that the Spanish translation of monkey is Chango.

Soon the curse began gaining some steam, and with the Yankee's 2003 series shortfall against the Marlins, it went national. Fresh off of defeating the Cubs with fierce determination and some help from another well-known curse, the Marlins faithful, full of Hispanic pride, and led by Ivan Rodriguez, Luis Castillo, Juan Encarnacion, played with a confidence they betrayed their experience. Scraping out runs, these players jumped all over the favorite Yankees and brought jubilance not only to Miami, but back to Queens as well. The ju-ju was now on and the word was out. The Yankees would never win another Series until the Gods over Flushing were appeased.

This year brought another whirlwind season in the Bronx, another 100 wins, another division title, and another showdown with the rival Red Sox. Victims of the Curse of the Bambino for 86 years, these Sox, self-proclaimed idiots, played without regard, sometimes for sanity, sometimes for health, and always without regard for history. 86 years proved to be enough, so after spotting the Yankees a long thought to be unbeatable 3-0 lead in a best of 7 series, the Sox went about tearing out the hearts of Yankees fans pitch by bloody pitch. The collapse of the Yankees will be spoken of for a seemingly eternal time to come, as it came without warning or precedence, and humiliated the storied franchise in a manner that had never before been seen. This was not merely shocking, not simply embarrassing, this was a display of ineptitude on a scale of historical proportion. This was an event that could only have occurred when curses collide. Here was a perfect storm of destruction and demoltion, on one side the destruction of the Red Sox long held belief of inadequacy, on the other the demolition of the myth of the unbeatable Yankees.

It si said that 'Payback is a bitch' and more than a few think that a form of divine justice would be served by a prolonged Yankees curse of say, 86 years, which while rivaling that of the Red Sox, more importantly pays homage to 1986, a time when it was the Mets, not the men in pinstripes, that owned New York. And while we are not certain just how strong this curse is, or just how long it may indeed last, we can all agree after witnessing the events of the past 4 years that it is out there. We cannot dispute that Chango is alive and well and watching over all who pay tribute to both his power, and to the pride of those in blue and orange.

The curse is dead, long live the new curse. The Curse of Chango.