Does the Wizard jinx area teams?

Michael Cooper

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By Michael Cooper, Staff Writer 10:40 PM Thursday, February 9, 2012

I’ve been asking myself this question a lot lately: Is the Wizard cursed?

I didn’t buy it until this week.

But first, some background.

This scenario happens at least three times a week, mostly on the phone:

Me: “Congrats coach you guys are playing great.”

Coach: “Thanks. (Insert other comments here).”

Me: “I was hoping to write a story on you guys later this week.”

Coach: (Awkward pause). “Sounds good, but I hope it doesn’t jinx us.” (Insert hilarious laugh here; Most of the time they’re truly just teasing me).

In the past, this would make me laugh for several reasons.

The News-Sun, in my opinion, had no bearing on how a team played. If you played well and won, you did what you had to do. If you lost, you needed to play better.

Sometimes, though, it’s better for players not to hear how good they are.

Coaches will do whatever it takes to win, and when they lose, they’re certainly looking for reasons as to why they lost. If you believe my prediction hurt your team, I apologize. I’ve got to make them, and sometimes they’re going to swing in your favor and sometimes they won’t.

(Speaking of predictions, I can’t tell you how many times the Wizard’s picks were brought up during my playing days. Almost every week it came up, especially when we were picked to lose. It’s amazing what a coach saying ‘The Wizard doesn’t believe in us’ can do to motivate high school football and basketball players.)

In the end, it’s just a prediction. I haven’t been around teams enough to know if they’re going to turn the ball over, or make free throws in the fourth quarter.

If I did, I’d never lose and I haven’t won the Wizard contest once in over a year on the job. (Much to the dismay of former Wiz Brian Plasters, the Obi-Wan Kenobi to my Luke Skywalker — the version who’s yet to learn the force).

Recently, though, I’m beginning to believe the curse is real.

Here are few examples:

• Last Friday, the Tecumseh boys lost a crucial Central Buckeye Conference Kenton Trail Division game to Bellefontaine despite being up seven in the final minute. Yes, I featured the Arrows in that day’s edition.

• On Monday, I interviewed a girls coach for a story that would run in Wednesday’s paper. They lost a game they probably felt like they should’ve won later that night.

• A boys basketball player I featured a few weeks ago is no longer with his team.

These are just a few examples of many I’ve seen in recent weeks.

Of course, the same can be said of when we write about teams who make runs deep into the tournament. The Shawnee football team is a prime example. Despite the amount of coverage we did, the News-Sun jinx never seemed to touch the Braves’ state runner-up football team.

I guess we’ll never know, but it’s certainly fun to talk about.

Contact this reporter at (937) 328-0365, Michael.Cooper@coxinc.com or on Twitter @SNS_Wizard.

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