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What follows is an updated post from the old SMU Football Blog in 2006.

There seems to be a common them the past few days. “Jinxed.â€

Hey, I totally get the "snakebit" mentality around here. We haven't been any good in over 20 years. That does quite a bit to the psychological outlook from a fan's perspective. However, you are right. There is no such thing as a curse in sports. Players play the game that haven't had anything to do with the previous teams' success or lack thereof. The problem that I see at SMU is a "culture" of losing and a losing mentality. We have so-called fans who go into a game or a season expecting the worst to happen for no other reason than that's what they've grown accustomed to seeing. However, these quasi-fans have no bearing on what happens on the field, nor does the death penalty, or the academic restrictions that crippled the program in the wake of the death penalty, or the dreadful performances of coaches since the DP. Do I know without a doubt June Jones is going to turn this thing around? No I don't. But I know that he's a proven winner and will do everything he can to get rid of the dark cloud that's been hovering over SMU football for the past two decades.

Losing is just a state of mind. Carney psychologist in The Natural.

It's just too easy to use the Death Penalty as an excuse. I'll admit, I did it for a period of time, probably most of us did.

Is "snakebit" the same as being continually subjected to Murphy's Law? Because we have over the last 20 years.

jtstang wrote:Is "snakebit" the same as being continually subjected to Murphy's Law? Because we have over the last 20 years.

That is exactly the point. It isn't Murphy's law. Read it again.

I can only see the big picture at this point--whenever something can go wrong for SMU it will.

And the best I could do was scan your article again. I don't see how it doesn't jibe with Murphy's Law. Woe is SMU.