The Colonel
Summary
Host Laura Norton explores the "Curse of Colonel Sanders" affecting the Hanshin Tigers baseball team in Osaka, Japan. After fans dressed a KFC statue in a player's jersey and threw it into the river in 1985, the team suffered a decades-long losing streak. Although the statue was recovered in 2009, the Tigers continue to struggle with bad luck, highlighting the enduring power of sports superstition.
Topics discussed
Sponsor: Call Me Shelly documentary
Introduction to One Strange Thing
The culture of sports curses in America
Introducing the KFC Colonel Sanders curse
American athletes playing in Japan
Overview of Nippon Professional Baseball
Randy Bass joins the Hanshin Tigers
The 1985 Tigers championship victory
Discrepancies in the curse's origin story
Fans throw a Colonel Sanders statue in the river
The Tigers' subsequent losing streak
The curse solidifies in fan lore
Failed attempts to recover the statue
Statue recovered during 2009 construction
Reactions and placement of the recovered statue
The curse persists despite the recovery
Missing pieces and continued losses
Reflections on the power of superstition
Outro and call to action
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