Cursed Kenney

Something that went under-published in recent days: Cubs chairman Crane Kenney, who isn't much of a baseball man in the first place, hired a Greek Orthodox priest to lift the "curse" on the Cubs. Cubs players didn't know about it until they saw the curse removal on TV. A TBS camera man happened to catch it.

The story began a couple days ago, when Cubs Chairman Crane Kenney left a message on Greanis’ voice mail to call him. Greanis thought his friends were playing a prank on him, but when he eventually got in contact with Kenney, he found out the reason for the call.

“He said, ‘I’m a devout Catholic, and I’m not superstitious, but if there is anything there, I want to take care of it,’” Greanis said Thursday.

The Billy Goat curse was placed on the Cubs in 1945 when Billy Goat Tavern owner William Sianis was denied entrance to a World Series game at Wrigley Field because he wanted to bring in his goat. The curse was immortalized in newspaper columns over the years, particularly by syndicated columnist Mike Royko, and gained widespread attention during the 2003 postseason when Fox played it up during the Cubs-Florida match-up in the National League Championship Series.

Kenney told Greanis that they wanted a Greek Orthodox priest to bless the dugout, since the alleged curse was placed by a Greek-American.

Cubs management really doesn't get it, do they? I mean, this sort of thing just promotes the lugubrious hex that some say haunts the Cubs. Get a clue, Crane Kenney. It's a joke that someone in his position would believe in such a silly superstition as a curse. His odd attention to something Lou Piniella himself deems ridiculous only adds distraction to the matter at hand.

On the other side of the same coin, Cubs players should be able to shrug off this sort of misstep by their organization.