Japanese baseball fans blame Col. Sanders for losing streak

1n 1985, fans of the Hanshin Tigers baseball team tossed a statue of the Colonel into the Dotonbori River in Osaka when the team won their first Central League pennant in 21 years. (Fans saw a resemblance between the Colonel and the team’s bearded American slugger, Randy Bass.)

The team went on to win the national championship, the Japan Series, that year but has never done so again, prompting some to suggest that the Colonel’s disappearance put a curse on them.

The truth about this curse will be resolved this season as a diver checking for unexploded bombs from WWII found the Colonel’s top half on Tuesday, minus his hands and glasses but still sporting his trademark string tie and grin. The bottom half was recovered today.

"It’s only a statue, but I felt as if I was rescuing someone," a worker told reporters after the lower half was found.

 

Silly Japanese baseball fans! Statues don’t cause curses. Goats do!

Advertisement