Curses!

By Sara Bredesen

Regional Editor

Sports fans can be a superstitious crowd, with special clothes, icons and traditions hauled out at each game to seal the deal on a win.
With that in mind, Black Creek goat owner Todd Jaskolski and one of his caprine companions have helped make sure the Wrigley Field Curse of the Billy Goat kept the Chicago Cubs in their proper places last week as the hotly contested National League Central Division race rolled to a close.
Mr. Jaskoski's help in perpetuating the curse was sought by Milwaukee Journal Sentinel newspaper columnist Jim Stingl.
The curse's history goes back to 1945, when Chicago Billy Goat Tavern owner William 'Billy Goat' Sianis and his tavern's goat mascot, Murphy, were denied entry to Wrigley Field for game four of the World Series against the Detroit Tigers — reportedly because the goat smelled bad.
The facts are a little vague as to why Mr. Sianis would have had Murphy with him in the first place, but there is no denying that most goats increase their musky odors in the fall.
As Mr. Sianis and Murphy were booted out the gate, Mr. Sianis said, 'Cubs, they not gonna win anymore.'
The Cubs lost the game, leading Mr. Sianis to send a telegram to Cubs owner P.K. Wrigley, saying 'Who smells now?'
Many attempts to block the curse have failed. Mr. Sianis said he lifted the curse just before his death in 1969, but that year the Cubs lost a nine-game lead to the upstart New York Mets, who went on to win the World Series.
A nephew of Mr. Sianis said it would take an open willingness to let goats in the gate to finally get the Cubs into a Series. There could be no publicity stunts; it would have to be by a freewill invitation.
The nephew and current Billy Goat Tavern owner, Sam Sianis, has taken goats to the field over the years, in attempts to lift the curse.
The curse has stuck for 42 years — or at least the Cubs haven't made it back to the World Series during that time, despite some near-misses — and Mr. Stingl wanted to make sure it stayed stuck.
Mr. Jaskolski, who with his wife, Sheryl, milks about 400 goats and produces fluid milk, cheese and yogurt under the Caprine Supreme label, had to think twice when he was being recruited by Mr. Stingl to try taking a goat into Wrigley Field.
'We have a farmers market on Saturday, and we're busier than busy,' Mr. Jaskolski said. 'Then my wife said any publicity is good publicity, so I called him back and said ‘OK, I'm in.''
Mr. Jaskolski was in for the adventure. But as predicted (and hoped, to confirm the curse), the Cubs gate guards weren't as accommodating.
After paying $50 for parking and another $80 for a ticket, Mr. Stingl made his attack on the first gate and was told unceremoniously to remove his goat.
Even when he claimed it was a seeing-eye goat, they wouldn't budge.
'Then we tried another gate, and right away, they're calling security on us,' Mr. Jaskolski said.
Security personnel never showed up, but the trio got quite a reaction from the pre-game crowd. The Brewers t-shirts the goat-herders wore drew one shouted expletive and a lot of wary looks, but the goat was the star of the show.
'If I had a dollar for every picture that people took with that goat, I could take the rest of the year off,' Mr. Jaskolski said.
As predicted, the goat stayed on the outside, while the Cubs whomped Pittsburgh 9-5 inside.
Mr. Jaskolski said the whole experience was a lot of fun and turned into a Journal-Sentinel article and a J-S online video that can be seen for free until Oct. 14 at www.jsonline.com/links.
'I'll do anything for a buck,' Mr. Jaskolski joked.
He isn't a baseball fan and was barely paying attention to the league standings up until his Wrigley Field recruitment.
'I'm a tavern baseball fan,' he said. 'If I'm in a tavern and it's on TV, I'll watch it.'
The goat enjoyed the day, too. Gertie, a 5-month-old doe, is a family pet and leads on a leash. She has been on television before, promoting the Humane Society.
Mr. Stingl said the curse has been effectively rejuvenated, but the Cubs are in the National League playoffs.

Sara Bredesen may be reached at stbrede@hotmail.com.