Pele’s Curse - A Fate Worse Than Death

[novasmu]

As I try to understand just how bad the 2014 season is looking and the reasons for it, my first instinct is to look back to the death penalty.

But even the death penalty never produced an SMU team that lost games by the margins we have seen so far this season. You have look all the way back to SMU’s first season (1916) to find a team that has been dominated so thoroughly offensively and defensively this early on.

In fact, neither the death penalty, nor SMU’s reaction to it, is a real explanation for what is happening, but merely a red herring. The penalties themselves are long gone, and the self-imposed restrictions that hampered SMU’s competiveness are gone as well.

But this still doesn’t answer the question of what could possibly cause a genius and guru like June Jones, who made Hawaii into an offensive juggernaut and took them to the Sugar Bowl, recruit a team that can neither score nor defend.

After must consideration and consternation, I am now convinced that SMU is suffering from the effects of Pele’s Curse. Legend has it that anything natively Hawaiian will effect bad luck on whoever takes it away from Hawaii. The explanation must be that we committed a grave sin when we took June Jones from Hawaii; a sin for which we must be punished by the jealous Hawaiian goddess Pele.

At first glance, this might not seem like a plausible explanation given the measure of success June brought to SMU for a few years. But, I now remember that June achieved that success while he was wearing his lei. Perhaps, it was a magical lei he wore to protect SMU from the wrath of Pele. It was only after he spurned the lei, at the behest of SMU, that things began to decline and unravel.

Now that June is free to reunite with his beloved Hawaii, perhaps Pele’s Curse has been lifted; but, even so, it will take time to recover from the damage it imposes. I just hope the recovery from Pele’s Curse happens quicker than the recovery from death.

[Dukie]

Good grief. Post-ASU June was the curse. And it's lifted but will take a long time to recover from.

[RGV Pony]

I thought this was going to be about our soccer team.

[couch 'em]

I think the real root must be identified as UCF. If the Rangers were not on that historic run and attendance was good for that game, would June still be here?

[Charleston Pony]

Good grief. Post-ASU June was the curse. And it's lifted but will take a long time to recover from.

For all the JJ bashing that has gone on since the ASU debacle, I never blamed JJ for trying to bail on SMU when he did. Coming off an appearance in the CUSA Championship game at UCF and a 2nd consecutive bowl appearance, we had beaten TCU at their place to get to 4-1 and had UCF coming in for what we all hoped would be a "revenge" game. On a beautiful day in Dallas, we had something like 20k show up to see SMU hand it to UCF and I think JJ (and most of us) were really bitterly disappointed with the lack of interest in that game. It really showed that SMU's lack of fan support was going to be a major obstacle in our ever being invited to compete at the highest level again. Yes...it's a shame ASU didn't work out for him and that things have spiraled downhill since that time. As for "the curse", if the RedSox can overcome the curse of the Bambino and South Carolina can overcome their "chicken curse", we can overcome Pele's curse.

[gostangs]

That curse didn't seem to effect A&M - whose receiver from Hawaii ran all over us.

Lack of effort and stubbornness has us where we are. Plain and simple. And hard work and some smarts will get us back.

[Treadway21]

Good grief. Post-ASU June was the curse. And it's lifted but will take a long time to recover from.

For all the JJ bashing that has gone on since the ASU debacle, I never blamed JJ for trying to bail on SMU when he did. Coming off an appearance in the CUSA Championship game at UCF and a 2nd consecutive bowl appearance, we had beaten TCU at their place to get to 4-1 and had UCF coming in for what we all hoped would be a "revenge" game. On a beautiful day in Dallas, we had something like 20k show up to see SMU hand it to UCF and I think JJ (and most of us) were really bitterly disappointed with the lack of interest in that game. It really showed that SMU's lack of fan support was going to be a major obstacle in our ever being invited to compete at the highest level again. Yes...it's a shame ASU didn't work out for him and that things have spiraled downhill since that time. As for "the curse", if the RedSox can overcome the curse of the Bambino and South Carolina can overcome their "chicken curse", we can overcome Pele's curse.

No one blames him for trying to move to a better job, they blame him for treating us like a stepchild, then firing the only two guys on the staff that recruited worth damn, and the fact is the ASU fans were smarter than the CoC, Orsini, Turner, and the local press. They knew what we now know, that June jones was resting on his system rather than working hard at recruiting and innovating to successful schemes like every good college coach.