Curse of LaBonte

Curse of LaBonte

The "Curse of LaBonte" is quite possibly one of the most famous curses in curling history. It was caused by an incident at the finals of the 1972 world men's curling championship, the 1972 Air Canada Silver Broom in Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Germany.

The Canadian team, skipped by Orest Meleschuk was playing the American team skipped by Robert LaBonte in the finals. Canada had been undefeated up until this point, but was down by two points in the last end. They needed two points to tie the game. Meleschuk had the "hammer", the final shot of the end. When it was time for him to shoot, the Americans had shot rock on the button while Canada was sitting second shot right next to it. The U.S. was sitting third rock too with a rock biting the 8-foot. To tie the game, Meleschuk had to hit the American rock and not roll further than this third rock.

Meleschuk's rock made the hit, and it proceeded to roll into the 8-foot. When it stopped, it was close to being second, but the Americans thought otherwise, and U.S. third Frank Aasand jumped in the air to celebrate. In the meantime, Canada's third Dave Romano was still investigating which rock was second rock, and thus whether or not Canada had scored two to tie, or just one for the loss. While Romano was looking, LaBonte jumped in the air to celebrate as well, but slipped and accidentally kicked the Canadian stone. Romano had still not agreed on who was shot, and since LaBonte had kicked the rock closer than the American rock, Canada was awarded two points in the end. Canada then won another point in the extra end to win the championship.

It was later said that LaBonte put a "curse" on Canada, because Canada did not win another World Championship until 1980. Canadian journalist Larry Tucker is generally considered to have been given credit for inventing the hex in 1980 to describe Canada's victory that year.

A secondary "curse", if interpreted in this way, is that a North Dakotan rink did not represent the United States again in the World Curling Championships until 1997, when Craig Disher of Langdon represented the United States.

Final Score

This is the final score of the final of the 1972 Air Canada Silver Broom.

Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 Final
 Canada (Meleschuk) 2 0 2 1 0 2 0 0 0 2 1 10
 United States (LaBonte) 0 1 0 0 2 0 2 2 2 0 0 9

Sources


Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.

Игры ⚽ Поможем решить контрольную работу

Look at other dictionaries:

  • Malédiction de LaBonte — La malédiction de Labonte est très probablement l un des incidents les plus célèbres de l histoire de curling. Il a été causé lors de la finale des Championnats du monde de curling masculin 1972 organisés à Garmisch Partenkirchen en Allemagne. L… …   Wikipédia en Français

  • Sports-related curses — A sports related curse is a superstitious belief in the effective action of some power or evil, that is used to explain the failures or misfortunes of specific sports teams, players, or even cities. Teams, players, and cities often cite a curse… …   Wikipedia

  • Curling — Highest governing body World Curling Federation N …   Wikipedia

  • World Curling Championships — Women s World Curling Championship trophy The World Curling Championships are annual curling events which showcase the world s best curlers, organized by the World Curling Federation. There are men s, women s and mixed championships. The men s… …   Wikipedia

  • Orest Meleschuk — (born April 11, 1940 in St. Boniface, Manitoba, Canada) is a former Canadian curler. He was one of Manitoba s best curlers during the 1960s and 70 s and has won a number of championships and major bonspiels. His greatest curling triumph came in… …   Wikipedia

  • Talladega Superspeedway — Dega Aerial view of Talladega Superspeedway in 2007. Location Talladega County, Alabama, at 3366 Speedway Boulevard, Lincoln, Alabama 35096, United States …   Wikipedia

  • Mario Andretti — Mario Andretti …   Wikipedia

  • Ned Jarrett — Ned A. Jarrett Ned Jarrett working for MRN Born October 12, 1932 (1932 10 12) (age 79) Newton, North Carolina …   Wikipedia

  • Killswitch Engage — Datos generales Origen Massachusetts, Estados Unidos …   Wikipedia Español

  • Dick Berggren — Born May 27, 1942 (1942 05 27) (age 69) Westerly, Rhode Island Nationality American …   Wikipedia

Share the article and excerpts

Direct link
Do a right-click on the link above
and select “Copy Link”