Wednesday, November 25, 2009

Bill Simmons Jinxes MLS Cup for Galaxy? Sure, Why Not?




In case you forgot, Landon Donovan was on Bill "The Sports Guy" Simmons' podcast last Thursday (3 days before roofing a PK in the MLS Cup Final).  This is a reader question from Simmons' latst mailbag column:
Q: After listening to your Landon Donovan podcast and then watching the MLS Cup final, I have to ask: Is this the first time you've ever actually personally jinxed a serious professional athlete? After that endless, unprompted discussion about how great Donovan is at penalty kicks, and after you made him explain how players can kick one right over the top of the goal, is there any doubt that he was saying "Damn you, Bill Simmons, damn you to hell" right after his terrible sky shot? When you watched it, did you feel guilty or did you feel an incredible rush of power?
-- Peter Y., Philly


SG: You know, I always laugh when readers blame me for jinxing players and teams. But I have to say ... I felt like there was blood on my hands this time. We spent three solid minutes discussing why he was so terrific with penalty kicks (fast-forward to 3:28 of this link), with Donovan revealing that, sometimes, he changes his mind on the direction of his kick even as he's about to kick it. That led to this exchange:
Me: "So that's when it can be dangerous, when at the last second, you change your mind and it ends up sailing over the crossbar sometimes -- for other guys, not you, right?"
Landon: "Exactly."
What happens in the Cup? He sails it over the crossbar. Did I feel responsible? Put it this way: I'd like to extend BS Report invitations to Peyton Manning (we can discuss why he's so great in the last five minutes of every game) and Kobe Bryant (we can discuss his remarkable durability). Come on the show, fellas! We'd love to have you.

1 comment:

Brian said...

Damn you Bill Simmons! Damn you! The fact that Donovan missed that is still killing me.

I mean Salt Lake won? WTF