The Curse of the Sparky?

Here in the Commonwealth, there used to be a sportswriter concocted curse, known as the "Curse of the Bambino."  Dan Shaugnessy, well known in the Boston community as "Curly haired boyfriend" (coined by the lovable and mild mannered Carl Everett), wrote a book detailing the Boston Red Sox epic failures over 70 years after they traded Babe Ruth to the hated New York Yankees. I am not going to go into much detail about this, if you are from the area you know the story.  However, I am coming up with my own curse to explain the downward spiral that my beloved Sun Devils football program is headed toward.

THE CURSE OF SPARKY

Sparky the Sun Devil has been the ASU mascot since the mid forties, and has been prominently displayed on the helmets of the Sun Devil football players.

I have always though ASU had pretty cool uniforms.  However, on April 12, 2011, ASU decided to roll out a new logo, and  new uniforms, without Sparky as the centerpiece.  

Traditionally ASU has donned maroon and gold colors, however black was rolled out as one of their colors.  Now, I am not against the new uniforms, but I really liked Sparky.  And sure Sparky is still there, but a very small Sparky in the back of the helmet.  He is almost an afterthought.

Well, ever since ASU has moved Sparky out of the spotlight, not much has gone right for their football program.  As I mentioned previously, their downward trend is due to "The Curse of Sparky."

Sparky was so insulted that he got bumped from the side of the helmet and the fifty yard line that he put a curse on the ASU football program.

Lets recap some of the events that have taken place since ASU decided to mess with Sparky:

ASU was supposed to have a strong defense going into the 2011 season, their secondary led by All-American defensive back Omar Bolden.  However, Bolden blew his knee before the season began and never played a down.

After starting the season a promising 6-2, and headed for s sure shot as the South representative in the new PAC 12 conference championship game, the Devils went 0 for November, including a disgusting loss to hated rival Arizona.

At 6-6 ASU got invited to the crappy Las Vegas Bowl, which I guess is better than no bowl at all.  But, they draw high-powered Boise St (who got a severe screw job by the BCS), one of the best teams in the country, and are destined to a 25 point loss.

And then the coaching search described as "a fiasco", "comedy of errors", and "bush league".  After ASU fired Dennis Erickson (deservedly so), the managed to perform the worst coaching search in the history of coaching searches.  Not only did they look like a bunch of buffoons, but they acted without class and unprofessionally along the way.  Let's look at this in more detail:

(U of A has already hired Rich Rodriguez, and the fan base in Tucson is excited and energized).

ASU's brainpower consisted of President Michael Crow, VP of University Athletics Lisa Love, and Athletics Chief Operating Officer Steve Patterson. 

Mike Leach formerly of Texas Tech is available.  Too late, Wazzou snatched him up.  Great hire by AD Bill Moos.  Dumb move by ASU not to show any interest.

ASU was targeting Kevin Sumlin out of Houston as their main target.  On December 1 it was reported that ASU offered Sumlin the job.  whether this actually happened or not is unknown.  On Dec 2, Texas A&M coach Mike Sherman was fired, and they were interested in Sumlin as well.  Apparently this scared ASU off, and since they were in Texas already, they decided to interview SMU coach June Jones.  However, apparent backlash from fans and boosters  seemed to have ASU back off Jones.  But a few days later, ASU had a strong interest in Jones again.  On December 7, Jones and ASU were about to hammer out a deal, when at the last minute, President Crow ended negotiations.  So, ASU wanted Jones, but there was negative reaction.  Three days later the brainiacs conducting the search thought that negative reaction would die down, and decided to move forward with Jones.  Twitter was blowing up with negative rants towards Jones, and after reports surfaced that June Jones would be the next head coach at ASU, negotiations were ended abruptly.  Classless move by whomever was in charge to handle the Jones situation so poorly.  Not making coaching at ASU look very attractive.

Larry Fedora is hired by North Carolina.  Sumlin is hired by Texas A&M.  UCLA hires Jim Mora Jr.  ASU seems to have no direction with their coaching search, as time tick away.  Rumors circulate that ASU will only hire those with head coaching experience, and not coordinators.  Dumb move if true.  Apparently the next ASU coach must keep Offensive Coordinator Noel Mazzone on staff as well.

UCLA picks off head ASU recruiter Steve Broussard, with rumors that Mazzone is not far behind.

December 14, reports surface that ASU hires PITT coach Todd Graham.  Todd Graham, wasn't he the guy that PITT hired less than a year ago?  Yes that is him.  Why would PITT officials allow Graham to even interview when he has been their for such a short time?  They didn't, Graham was not given permission to interview, but he did anyway.  Crow, Love and Patterson had to know that he was not allowed to interview, but in an unprofessional move, they interviewed him anyway.  Its an unwritten rule and professional courtesy, that a school does not interview a coach under contract without permisssion.  Apparently Graham resigned at PITT to be able to interview, and ASU hired him.  The whole situation just seems to have a bad stench.  In addition, Graham stated that ASU was his dream job.  Really Coach Graham?  Really?  Why would a school with a mediocre at best football program be your dream job?  Why would you leave football loving western Pennsylvania with dedicated fans to the fair weather fans of Tempe?  Don't get me wrong, I love ASU football, but as a whole, we have weak support.  So, I question your motives, Coach Graham.  In addition, if you are such a man of God and character, you need to come up with a better explanation of the text you sent to your PITT players telling them you were leaving them after one year.

Graham's text to PITT players:

"I have resigned my position at Pitt in the best interest of my family to pursue the head coaching position at Arizona State," Graham said. "Coaching there has always been a dream of ours and we have family there. The timing of the circumstances have prohibited from telling you this directly. I now am on my way to Tempe to continue those discussions. God Bless. Coach Graham."

So, what does all of this mean?  It is all support of my theory "The Curse of Sparky."  One could say that if Sparky was never messed with, the ASU football team would not have had a November free fall.  Ans had they won 9 games, Erickson would still certainly be the coach.  Therefore the circus of a coaching would have never taken place.  In addition, I believe that things are going to get worse with Coach Graham at the helm.  And, as part of the curse, Lisa Love will get a raise and an extension.

In preparation for the press conference to introduce Graham as the new ASU head coach, I was reading some of the PITT message boards.  They basically knew what Coach Graham would say in his press conference, and surprisingly, they were spot on.

Look Coach Graham, I am willing to give you the benefit of doubt, and wish for you to succeed.  However, I don't think that the Curse of Sparky will.  Unfortunately for you, there is a lot of work ahead to energize and excite the fans about you and what you can do for ASU football.

So, is there really a Curse of Sparky?  Who knows?  But if a mick sportswriter from Boston can gain popularity from writing a book about a baseball curse, why can't a dago blogger-wanna-be from the same town invent a college football curse?  After ASU Football goes 3-9 next year, there will most certainly be a book deal.  Stay tuned.