The New Orleans Saints are having a splendid season, but despite their 12-0 record, they're still a long way from the kind of immortality enjoyed by the '72 Dolphins. But it seems no one bothered to tell Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal, who in public remarks today claimed that his beloved Saints had a date with destiny.
From Politico:
Jindal then predicted that the Saints would go "not only undefeated, but all the way through the Super Bowl, something that's never been done before."Oh, but it has been done by those '72 Dolphins, a point that Dolphins spokesman Harvey Greene was quick to impress upon Jindal.
For those not familiar, the Curse of the '72 Dolphins goes like this:
The moment a team flirts with the kind of perfection known by the '72 Dolphins, that team is doomed by its own hubris. So it is that the 1985 Chicago Bears were upset in the Orange Bowl by the Dolphins, who on that very night invited members of the '72 squad to the game. That Bears team blew out every team it met in the playoffs, winning the Super Bowl, but its record still had that single blemish.
Only once in a generation does a team challenge the '72 Dolphins, and so it was that the 2007 New England Patriots drew those comparisons. ESPN devoted a whole section of its website to comparisons between the two teams, but the conversation ended forever the moment that the New York Giants' Plaxico Burress caught the game-winning touchdown pass in the final seconds of that Super Bowl.
The question is, what are the political consequences to one who would, like Jindal, commit the faux pas of forgetting the '72 Dolphins historic achievement? Jindal's gotten lots of buzz for the Republicans' presidential nomination in 2012. We'll see if that buzz is stronger than the curse.
