Old traditions and curses are falling like mad.

First the Redsox break the curse of the bambino. The sports world will have to look for a new team to be the forever bridesmaid. Actually, it wasn't so much Boston's inability to win the title as it was their real ability to lose it. Getting close now and then only served to highlight, just how well they could really lose it. How did they break it? I think getting Schilling and a bunch of loose guys in their lockerroom who didn't believe in the curse and just went out and played.

Another long term tradition/curse that went bust was the Washington Redskins and their ability to pick the president. Since like 1936, if Washington won their last home game before the election, the encumbent won the office. If the lost, of course the opposite occured. Imagine the predictions when the Redskins lost their last home game. Could it be Kerry? Well, that tradition went bust I think largely because the tradition was exposed and bantered all over the media. It became just too big and too impossible to continue. Its over. Now we don't have to watch or care much about those Redskins except for the weeks they play the Cowboys (How 'bout them Cowboys!).

Bottom line, while it may be good to look back in sports (and life), you can't overstate the impact the past will have on the current days. Especially if there is desire for a different outcome. The past can grip only as tight as you allow it.