Tuesday, August 03, 2010

HBO's Hard Knocks: Is There a Curse?

In Mighty's Monday article, there was a question raised as to whether HBO's Hard Knocks creates a curse for the team it follows. This year's team is the NY Jets.

Personally, I've never watched the show, but I used the internet to look back through the years of Hard Knocks:

2001: Baltimore (coming off Super Bowl season) - cursed? team performed below expectations; swept by Browns; finished 10-6 and lost in the divisional round.

Conclusion: Cursed!

2002: Dallas (coming off 5-11 season). Finished 5-11 again. No curse, this team just sucked. This was a Dave Campo year.

Conclusion: Cursed? No, just sad.

2007: Kansas City (coming off 9-7 and 1st round exit); KC fell to 4-12. They traded Trent Green and were supposed to be bad.

Conclusion: Cursed? No, just rebuilding.

2008: Dallas (coming off 13-3 season and disappointing opening playoff loss at home); ended up going 9-7 and missing playoffs by losing to Philly 44-6 in the last game.

Conclusion: Cursed!


2009: Cincinnati (coming off 4-11-1 season). The Bungals ended up miraculously winning the division! Carson Palmer even played 16 games!

Conclusion: Reverse-jinx / Anti-curse!


Final numbers:

5 years, 2 curses, 1 anti-curse, and 2 sad stories!

Results: No clear trends.

5 comments:

MJ said...

I've watched every season of Hard Knocks and I have to say that it is unequivocally the best football-themed show on television.

I wasn't aware of any Hard Knocks curse but I sure do hope the Jets get cursed this year.

Mighty Mike said...

I saw part of the Chiefs Hard Knocks season and it was incredibly entertaining. Of course Herm Edwards is certifiable. Come on Ryan see if you can out crazy Herm!

Gutsy Goldberg said...

What about the one-season run of Playmakers on ESPN? That was pretty awesome. I still always associate drug testing with "the piss man."

http://www.tv.com/playmakers/the-piss-man/episode/265373/recap.html?tag=episode_recap;recap

MJ said...

Playmakers was overdramatized but entertaining nonetheless.

Gutsy Goldberg said...

I agree MJ. I wouldn't say it was good television. Hell, I only watched some of the episodes. It was just entertainment, period.