Akron Zips and The Number 23

There is a 23 curse in Akron. Zips teams seem to get stuck on 23 wins in a variety of spots. The soccer team this year was 23-0 and finished the season 23-1-1 after the College Cup ended (even though it should be 24-1 or 23-0-2). Of course had they finished 24-1 like it should have been then 24-1=23. But anyways they lost in PKs to Virginia 3-2 (backwards of 23). Yah 23 was all over that game.

Last year the Zips lost to Northwestern in the playoffs after the ridiculous Home Field Advantage Fail...Zips finished the season 17-2-4, yep that's right 23 games.

In 2007 the Zips lost to South Florida first round on 11/28/07. 1+1+28=30-7=23. Okay, okay, maybe I'm stretching a little on that one, but there is proof in other sports too:

Zips basketball won the MAC this year and going into the NCAA Tournament had 23 wins. Needless to say they lost to Gonzaga. The Zags went on a 27-4 run in the second half (27-4=23) to win the game. Also 27-4 was the Zags record going into the game, another 23.

The 2007-08 season, Akron had 23 wins going into the MAC Championship game against Kent State and lost. Now they did make it to the NIT and won a game to push their record to 24-10 (24-1-0=23) before losing to UMass, who just coincidentally beat the Zips giving them their 23rd win.

In the 2006-07 season the Zips did win against Kent in the final regular season game to give them 23 wins in the regular season, but they lost in the MAC Championship to Miami who coincidentally had a record of 18-14 (also the address of Jim Carry's character in the movie The Number 23 so therefore 18+1+4=23 or 1+8+14=23 anyway you want to spin it its there.

Okay Okay enough about Men's basketball, what about Women's BBall? Last year the Zips lost to CMU in the first round. The Zips had 23 turnovers in the game and despite Kara Murphy's 32 points (backwards 23) they still lost. Oh and did I mention the fact that the game took place on 3/11/09 (3+11+9=23). Do you believe in the curse yet?

Of course the 2007-08 season for women's basketball ended the regular season with 23 losses and 7 wins. Needless to say they were knocked out the first round of the MAC Tourney.

Last year softball went 3-2 in the MAC tourney (backwards 23). They also had 32 wins in the regular season.

In the MAC Tourney in 2008 the Zips lost to Kent 3-2 in the first round, beat Miami 3-2 in the second round (two 23s backwards) before losing to Ball State.

In 2007 the Lady Zips Softball team beat Ohio State 2-1 in 8 innings before losing their final four games of the season. They were outscored in those games 23-0.

Oh btw there is no sense in looking into a football team curse this year, they just sucked...same with baseball period.

I'm sure there is more I could say about other Zips sports, but I will leave that for later.

First Entry

Lets just say that this number is everywhere. The movie wasn't the greatest movie I've ever seen, but ever since I watched it, 23 has appeared in everything I do. In this blog I will share how the number 23 has effected my life from little things to catastrophic things. Hopefully you will have some stories as well. Is the number 23 being in everything a coincidence or by design?