Curse of Colonel

The curse of the Colonel is the overseas curse example. Its origin happened in 1985 when the Hanshin Tigers fans overcelebrated their team’s victory in the Japan Series. Some of them departed Colonel Sanders, team’s mascot, into Osaka’s local Dotonburi river from Ebisu Bridge.

This celebration was wild. It honored the slugger Randy Bass who defended the Tigers’ colours at that time. The crowd yelled the players’ names and after each name, the fan resembling that performer leaped from the bridge into the waiting canal. Nobody couldn’t imitate the MVP, Randy Bass, as he was Caucasian. Colonel Sanders wasn’t Japanese at all and had a beard. So, the crowd tossed it into the water. All this happened near one of the KFC restaurants there.

It started an 18-year misfortune period for Hanshin Tigers. They struggled as much as possible but took the cellar or close to it for dozen years. The 1992 and 1999 rallies granted hope for fans, but their expectations were ruined before the playoffs. Enthusiasts took efforts to recover the statue at its place. Fans apologized to the KFC restaurant owner, but the statue still was in the canal.

Japan’s victory in the 2002 World Cup stimulated Tigers to beat their curse. The Hanshin team demonstrated a powerful season and used the weaknesses of their chief rivals, the Yomiuri Giants and won the Central League. Local divers identified the statue, removed it from the water. They recovered Colonel carefully and returned it to KFC Japan. The restaurant the statue belonged to doesn’t exist anymore. So Sanders meets the viewers of the Koshien Stadium.