Sports Illustrated Cover Jinx

The "Sports Illustrated" Jinx is a myth that states that individuals or teams who appear on the cover of the Sports Illustrated magazine will experience bad luck at varying lengths into the future.

While the list of "examples" of the jinx may be extensive, an individual record [http://i.cnn.net/si/si_online/covers/images/1984/1210_large.jpg49 cover appearances] by Michael Jordan did not hinder his success. Similarly, Vince Young also overcame the Sport Illustrated jinx by appearing on the cover of Sports Illustrated twice during Texas' National Championship season. cite web |url=http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0201/25/ltm.01.html |title=Is Their (sic) a "Sports Illustrated" Cover Jinx? |publisher=CNN |accessdate=2007-08-28]

"SI" addressed their own opinions on the "alleged" cover jinx in a 2002 issue that featured a [http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/features/cover/coverlarge012102.html black cat] on the cover.

The most common explanation for the perceived effect is that athletes are generally featured on the cover at the pinnacle of their careers, so future performance is likely to be less impressive by comparison. This decline in performance would then be perceived as being related to, or even possibly caused by, the appearance on the magazine cover. This perceived correlation would be present for a statistically significant number of featured athletes. This effect is related to the statistical phenomenon of regression toward the mean.Or|date=July 2008

This explanation does not apply to rookies or others who are featured relatively early in their careers.

ee also

*Sports Illustrated
*Madden Curse
*Regression toward the mean

Further reading

*Wolff, Alexander. " [http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2003/writers/alexander_wolff/08/27/viewpoint_flashback/index.html Unraveling the Jinx] ." "SportsIllustrated.com". January 15, 2002.
*———. "That Old Black Magic." "Sports Illustrated". January 21, 2002, 50–61.

References