For the gamblers among you out there, it might be time to load up on the Boston Bruins, because ye olde Drake has officially doomed his hometown Toronto Maple Leafs by… showing up to a game wearing their jersey.
If that sounds ridiculous, stay with us. There’s a long precedent of this.
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You see, Drake quite enjoys sport. And he loves getting around professional sports teams and athletes. The problem there is that teams and athletes who cross paths with Drake have developed a horrible habit of choking almost immediately afterwards.
It’s no shot in the dark either. There’s a long history of it.
The curse has its origins in 2013, when the Toronto Raptors made Drake their “global ambassador,” gifting him a permanent courtside seat at home games and even allowing him to design some of the team’s alternate jerseys. Since then, the team has embarked on a string of spectacular playoff chokes, never once qualifying for an NBA Finals despite regular season dominance.
Then the curse began to spread as Drake attached himself to other teams. In 2014, US college basketball side Kentucky punched their ticket to the National Championship game after defeating Wisconsin in the Final Four. Drake got into the locker room after the game to celebrate with the team. Kentucky then lost the championship game.
In 2015, Serena Williams was an almost unbackable favourite to take out her US Open semi-final matchup against rank outsider Roberta Vinci. In a staggering upset, she lost. In the crowd watching on? Drake.
Over the past year, the effects of the curse have accelerated. In October 2018, Drake was in Conor McGregor‘s corner at the weigh-in for his fight against Khabib Nurmagomedov prior to UFC 236. McGregor went on to take one of the absolute worst and most resounding beatings of his career.
In January, Drake posted an Instagram story of himself wearing an Alabama Crimson Tide hoodie, backing them in as the side prepared to tackle this year’s College Football Playoff National Championship game. They lost that one too.
After that, the Drake curse got its claws ensnared in European football. Within a matter of weeks, Jadon Sancho of Borussia Dortmund, Sergio Aguero of Manchester City, Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang of Arsenal, Paul Pogba of Manchester United, and Layvin Kurzawa of Paris Saint-Germain all scored candid social media snaps with Drake as he toured across Europe. Immediately after posting the photos, each and every team suffered humiliating losses in key games. It’s a trend fans did not let slip.
https://twitter.com/RapAccess/status/1117600879123685376
The negative presence of Drake looms so large over European football right now that AS Roma went so far as to ban players from taking photos with him.
All Roma players banned from taking photos with Drake until the end of the season
— AS Roma English (@ASRomaEN) April 15, 2019
So it’s absolutely no understatement to suggest that Drake showing up to yesterday’s crucial Toronto Maple Leafs playoff game against Boston is a big deal. It’s an even bigger deal that he did it while wearing a Maple Leafs jersey.
Is the #Drake curse real? #Drake cheers on the @MapleLeafs before their unfortunate 6-4 loss to the Boston Bruins https://t.co/GaRUGvZhRC pic.twitter.com/VPmsupfZO8
— ET Canada (@ETCanada) April 18, 2019
And because the curse rings true, Toronto lost the game. At home. 6 goals to 4.
The real kicker? Drake’s jersey had the number 6 on it.
Sorry Leafs fans. If you can find a way to keep him out of the building, you might actually have a shot next year.
