The Curse of William Penn on Philadelphia Sports

For those of you who believe the only two curses in professional sports belong to the Chicago Cubs and Boston Red Sox, then think again. The only difference is this curse does not plague just one team, but rather, an entire city.

Since 1983, the city of Philadelphia has not called themselves champions in any of the four major sports- baseball, basketball, football, and hockey. Some believe it not to be a curse, but rather a complete, utter failure by a city of teams. However, other's view it as the Curse of William Penn. Yes, the same William Penn who founded the great state of Pennsylvania.

Prior to 1987, Penn's statue atop Philadelphia City Hall was the highest point in the City of Brotherly Love. Then, in March of 1987, the One Liberty Place skyscraper was constructed, and became the first of many other buildings to exceed the statue of Penn. Thus, causing Mr. Penn to become irate with the city and leading him to haunt Philadelphia professional sports teams. Since the addition of One Liberty Place, Philly has witnessed failures after "oh-so-close" failures on the diamond, the ice, the hardwood, and the field.

Let's start with the Phillies. In 1993, the Phightin' Phils made their first World Series appearance since 1983. In the 9^th inning of game six, Mitch "Wild Thing" Williams gave up a game-winning and series-clinching homerun to Joe Carter, which will forever go down as one of the most spectacular homeruns in Major League Baseball history and meanwhile, one of the most heart-dropping plays in Philly fans' history.

After 1993, the Phillies experienced seven straight losing seasons and have yet to make it to the postseason. The last few seasons, the Phils have came out of the gates slow but finished strong, just to fall a couple games short of the Wild Card.

Next, there is the Flyers. Since March of 1987, the Flyers have came close to winning the Stanley Cup twice, but ended up coming up short. In 1987, they lost to the Edmonton Oilers in the Stanley Cup Finals four games to three, and in 1997, ended up getting swept by the Detroit Red Wings.