If you're a Cubs fan, you're likely still looking for reasons as to why the Cubs got swept out of the playoffs by the lowly Dodgers. Was it the fact that Soriano couldn't hit? Was it that Ryan Dempster simply sucked? Was it Lou Piniella's lineup changes?But seriously, stop your questioning. I know exactly what caused the Cubs' annual collapse this year. It was a tattoo.
Yes, the club's demise was preordained at a Tennessee tattoo parlor some 600 miles from Wrigley Field. That's where lifelong fan Jimmy Burroughs got his Cubs logo etched onto his right shoulder blade. But "Go Cards" also wound up getting put into the tattoo as well.
In July, the Cubbies were on track to win the National League Central and Burroughs felt confident the team would go all the way. So during a family vacation to Gatlinburg, Tenn., Burroughs stopped at American Rebel Tattoo Studios in nearby Pigeon Forge. There, he and tattoo artist Deke Rivers engaged in some good-humored ribbing about the Cubs' longtime rivalry with the St. Louis Cardinals. Rivers says he is not a Cardinals fan, but wrote "Go Cards" on the tattoo as a joke.
"We laughed about it," Burroughs recalled. "I told him, 'Color it in now.'"
"We laughed about it," Burroughs recalled. "I told him, 'Color it in now.'"
I assume by "laughed about it" Burroughs means "I damn near killed him." But there was one problem, even after the tat was colored in, it didn't go away. Instead, the "Go Cards" resurfaced. Of course it did. And naturally Burroughs blames his tattoo on the Cubs getting swept by the Dodgers in the playoffs.
Anyway, add this tattoo to the lengthy list of Cubs curses; the goat of 1945, the black cat of 1969 and Steve Bartman of 2003. At this rate, the Cubs won't win the World Series until 3076.
But just so Burroughs knows, his tattoo isn't all that bad in the long run. My favorite "tattoo gone awry" story is this one from Argentina involving crazy soccer fans.
An Argentinean football fan is suing a tattooist who drew a penis on his back instead of his favourite team's badge.
The teenager, who cannot be named, asked to have the Boca Juniors logo on his back.
But the tattoo artist was a supporter of rival team River Plate and decided to have some fun at his young customer's expense.
The victim told Terra Argentina: "I could not see what he was tattooing because he didn't have a mirror. I only saw it when I got home and showed it to my parents."
I'm sure the parents were so proud. Man, to have been a fly on the wall in that house...
Chicago Cubs tattoo hexed by St. Louis Cardinals inscription [STL Today]
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