There’s only one word to describe Cincinnati professional sports in my time walking this earth: heartbreaking.

The Cincinnati Bearcats and the Xavier Musketeers even seem to be falling victim to the curse, and disappointment that this city brings with its sports teams. The reason I say that these sports are cursed, is because ever since the Reds won a World Series in 1990, Cincy teams have not even come close in any sport. I call this curse the Bo Jackson curse.

I caught up with avid Bo Jackson curse believer, Sam Kayse. Kayse told me, “If you just look at everything that has occurred after the Bengals injured Bo Jackson, it really just speaks for itself. There has been nothing but bad luck and unfortunate endings to seasons for Cincinnati teams.”

Kayse continued, “I realized this curse was a thing as soon as Jeremy Hill fumbled against the Steelers, and when XU and UC lost in March Madness. You just cannot ignore these circumstances, it shows explicitly that the curse is a thing and will be a thing for awhile if a team does not break it. And I do not see any Cincy team beating this in the near future.”

My personal take on the Bo Jackson curse being legit, is that I am a believer that it is actually a thing. There has to be some reason a Cincinnati team cannot physically win a playoff game when they have had great rosters and great seasons.

The Bengals of 2015, were probably the epitome of Cincinnati sports, getting a huge turnover late in the game and having the ability to just run the clock out, yet fumbling the ball on the very first play of said possession needed to run out the clock.

Another example would be the Bearcats and Muskies blowing a 22 and a 12 point lead in the NCAA tournament this year. Both were top two seeds in their regions, and both lost to mediocre teams that they would have blown out had it not been a post season game.

Also, the Reds have not been able to avoid this curse. After having a 2-0 series lead on the Giants in the playoffs a few years back, they had three chances to win the series at home, and proceeded to lose three straight at home to the Giants to be knocked out of the playoffs, and this season ultimately was the demise of the Reds, who have not been back to the playoffs since.

Another team in this city that has tried to break the curse but came up short are the newcomers, FC Cincinnati who had a 2-0 lead on the New York Red Bulls in the quarterfinals of the US Open Cup, but proceeded to fall apart and lose 3-2 and get eliminated.

This series of events clearly shows how the curse is alive and well. Cincinnati has had great teams and great players, and will continue to have great teams and great players, but will they be able to break the Bo Jackson curse, and win a major championship? I guess we will just have to wait and see.