Phil Speranza has issued a challenge!  Phil wants me to do a "portrait of myself" by writing  an article on how I broke every baseball curse except the Cub's Curse of the Goat. Phil claims the Cubbie's Got my Goat. Please hold on Phil.  Let's give your readers some background information.  I write baseball and sports songs and have written a number of songs about "curses."  My first one was the Babe Ruth's Curse and it started with the lines:                          

OUR RED SOX NOW LEAD BY A COUNTRY MILE

STILL FEAR GRIPS OUR HEARTS THE CROWD WEARS NO SMILE

BABE’S CURSE IS WITH US ALL CLOUDS GROW DARK

IT’S WORLD SERIES TIME AT OLD FENWAY PARK

     I wrote this song in 2003 and it ended up in an HBO film called the Curse of the Bambino.  By the end of 2004 the 86 year old Curse was gone.  You Yankee Fans might remember that  joyful Sox series with your Yankees or are you still trying to forget?  

The Chicago White Sox had an even longer World Series drought than the Red Sox so I wrote a song called  Let Buck Back in!  This was about Buck Weaver the outstanding third baseman for the Black Sox.  Buck didn't cheat but he would not inform on his cheating  teammates thus Buck was banned for life. The song started with these lines:

THOSE CUBBIE FANS CLAIM THAT THEIR CURSE IS WORSE

BUT THE WHITE SOX HAVE A REAL LIVE CURSE

IT’S THE CURSE OF INJUSTICE OF NINETEEN TWENTY

AGAINST BUCK WEAVER WHO DIDN’T TAKE A PENNY

That White Sox Curse lasted for 87 years but it was over in one year after I wrote Let Buck Back in.  I then moved on and wrote three songs yes three songs about the Curse hanging over all Major professional sports in the  city of Brotherly Love. Note the lines below:

PHILADELPHIA THE CITY OF BROTHERLY LOVE

HAS THE DARKEST SPORT CLOUDS HANGING FROM ABOVE

SINCE EIGHTYFOUR OUR TEAMS HAVEN’T WON A THING

NOT A SINGLE TITLE NOR A WORLD SERIES RING

     They had won nothing since 1983 as this curse goes because Philadelphia allowed a skyscraper to be built taller than William Penn's statue which stands atop City Hall.  Well the same thing happened. About a year after I wrote those songs the curse went poof!!  The Phillies won the World Series! 

      Now, Phil claims that Curse of the Goat has somehow got my Goat because I wrote two songs about the longest World Series drought in history but nothing happened!  Phil is wrong. There is no Goat Curse because the Goat story began in 1945.  The Cubs haven't won a World Series since 1908. The Goat story doesn't explain the gap of 37 years. So, what does?  The Chorus of my song  Our Cubbie Curse leads to the truth.  Just read below.  

WHAT IS THE TRUE STORY OF OUR CUBBIE CURSE?

IT’S NOT MURPHY THE GOAT. IT’S SO MUCH WORSE

OUR CUBS CAN’T WIN ‘TIL WE FACE THE TRUTH

THE CURSE IS WHERE THE SHOT WAS CALLED BY RUTH

     In this song I gave specific advice on how the Cubs could win their first World Series in 102 years!  So far they ignored my sage counsel.  Although Phil has a copy of that CD he sadly didn't take the time to listen to my song  Our Cubbie Curse either. Clearly, a  baseball prophet is without honor in the Yankee Kingdom.  Besides, there is another far more compelling reason why the Cubs have not won it all.  It can be found in my song God Created the Cubs in my newest CD Baseball Songs Sports Heroes 3. Note the chorus below:

CHORUS

GOD CREATED OUR CUBS FOR A REASON
TO WIN BY LOSING EVERY BASEBALL SEASON
GOD CREATED OUR CUBS TO LOVINGLY LOSE
BUT WIN OR LOSE ITS OUR CUBS WE CHOOSE!

     So Phil, I think I got your goat. Except I did put a "Curse" on myself and the Red Sox by writing a song about the near 10 year drought of the dreaded New York Yankees. I dearly wanted them to finish up the decade with a ZERO World Series wins.  Alas, I should have known better. But, I didn't. I pricked myself with my own poison pen!!  I  wrote:  The Yankees aren't the Yankees anymore but alas the 2009 Yankees looked and played like the Yankees of old. I did break this curse.  Oh how sad!  What a blunder!  This is what I wrote attempting to put "the curse on them". 

CHORUS

THE YANKEES AREN’T THE YANKEES ANYMORE
THEY’RE PLAYING LIKE THE RED SOX OF YORE
LATELY A BRIDESMAID RARELY A BRIDE
WHATEVER HAPPENED TO YANKEE PRIDE?

    Still I did help them win!  I know I did!  Do you think the Yankees will share at least 10% of their World Series winnings with me?  I'm still waiting by my phone for that call from the Yankee Front Office. Well, to tell you the truth Yankee Fans, this belated World Series win was inevitable. In 2004 after the Red Sox played like the Yankees against the Yankees who played like the Red Sox of old, I wrote this song which is on the CD Sports Songs and Beyond. The song is called  The Curse of the Bambino is back! I shouldn't have written this song either.  The Babe is back! 

 THE CURSE OF THE BAMBINO IS BACK!