NHL team the Los Angeles Kings have found an unlikely scapegoat for the comparatively poor performance of late, placing the blame on a curse set by none other than Taylor Swift.
Throughout music history, there have been some pretty interesting theories and curses put forward by the music-loving public. Why, the fact that so many noted musicians died at age 27 gave rise to the 27 Club, while the fact many dead musicians had white lighters in their pockets upon death gave rise to the white lighter curse.
However, there’s a new curse in town which is far more esoteric and weak than those of yesteryear, with the NHL team the Los Angeles Kings blaming Taylor Swift for their poor performance.
To help explain this curse, you have to go back a few years. In 2015, Taylor Swift was out on her 1989 World Tour when she returned to Los Angeles’ Staples Centre for a five-night residency. These shows saw Swift rack up her 16th sold-out gig at the venue, and before long, a banner was made to commemorate the achievement.
As it turns out, the Staples Centre is also the homeground for the Los Angeles Kings, who had won the Stanley Cup in 2014 and 2012, and made the Conference Finals in 2013.
However, it was once the banner was up that things seemed to start going south. Since Taylor Swift’s 16th sold-out performance at the venue, the LA Kings haven’t had a good run.
In fact, the ensuing five seasons have seen them not qualify for the playoffs on three occasions, and lose in the first round of playoffs on two occasions.
We are undefeated when the Taylor Swift banner is covered up!
— Bailey LA Kings (@BaileyLAKings) October 13, 2019
Needless to say, fans began to think a curse might be in place, with Deadline reporting that the LA Kings have responded to online pressure and gone so far as to cover up the banner in hopes of breaking the curse.
“The connection to our fans is our highest priority and through our engagement they have made it clear that the banner shouldn’t be part of their Kings game experience,” Michael Altieri, senior VP of marketing, communications, and content, explained to The Los Angeles Times.
“We didn’t see an issue in covering it for our games and in fact see it as an opportunity to show our fans that we hear them.”
Alright, so this is all just superstition, right? Well, considering that the Kings won their first home game of the season over the weekend, we reckon there could be something to it. In fact, even the Kings’ mascot, Bailey, got in on the action, noting that “we are undefeated when the Taylor Swift banner is covered up.”
Will this streak continue? It remains to be seen, but you can be sure that Taylor Swift won’t be getting an invite to any of their games in the near future.
Check out Taylor Swift’s ‘You Need To Calm Down’:
