The Drake Curse
Sometimes in life, there are things you can’t explain, but you just know them to be true. No matter the circumstance, and seemingly without rhyme or reason, they continue to occur. The Drake Curse is one such phenomenon. It is unclear to this day whether it was something the Toronto native rapper was born with, or he was subject to some voodoo along the way, made a deal with the devil perhaps, in exchange for his success? Or maybe upset a witch doctor or two, but regardless of how he came to be cursed, it has now become common knowledge that Drake, is most definitely cursed. I have no scientific explanation for why this happens, many have tried to rationalise these events as coincidence, the luck of the draw, the law of averages, but in reality, you can call it whatever makes you sleep better at night. Drakes curse is real, we know it, he knows it, and it isn’t just superstition anymore to avoid him, it’s actually critical that you do.
Serena Williams
The origins of the curse date back to 2015, where Serena Williams was in the midst of experiencing one of the greatest professional athletic years of all time. The 34-year-old Tennis phenom as en route to winning all four of the year’s Grand Slam tournaments, a feat that only two women in history had ever accomplished before her. Her victories in the Australian Open, French Open and her big win at Wimbledon in July had made her triumph at the US Open at the end of the Summer all but a foregone conclusion. That was until Drake stepped into the fold. Rumoured to be canoodling with Serena Williams, Drake did not shy away from speculation heading into the US Open, with many suspecting the pair to be in some way romantically entwined. The Canadian Rapper was only responsible for stoking the fire with a tweet that read “I cannot wait to put it on you and make you sweat……….during our match this weekend.” With Drake expectedly in attendance to cheer on Serena during her semi-final match against 300-1 underdog Roberta Vinci, the thing no one thought could happen, happened, and Serena Williams lost, thus, ending her historic Grand Slam streak and birthing the Drake curse.
Johnny Manziel and Andrew Wiggins
At the time no one could have blamed Drake for what had unfolded, in fact, to attribute Serena Williams loss to him at that stage would have been blatantly unfair but an incredible bit of foresight all the same. At that moment, however, Drake had proven he could derail one of the most dominant athletes in the world, what we didn’t really understand until later on, was the effect Drake could have on prospects also. As unbeknownst to many around a similar time as the events of the US Open Drake was also unintentionally wrecking the career of two future stars. A year earlier in the Spring of 2014 Drake released a song called Draft Day, which centred around two young college athletes. Quarterback Johnny Manziel and Canadian Basketball player Andrew Wiggins, both of which were expected to do big things in the NFL and NBA once drafted, but whom both suffered rather shocking, and unfortunate turns of fortune after their names became associated with Drake. Johnny “Football” Manziel doesn’t even play in the NFL anymore, and Andrew Wiggins’ team the Timberwolves have only made the playoffs once in his tenure there, very underwhelming considering the promise they both showed.
University of Kentucky
It is not just individuals Drake can derail, however, oh no, the curse does not discriminate. Drake’s enthusiasm for the University of Kentucky’s men’s basketball team has subtly been one of his most enduring allegiances with his support of the program dating back as far as 2012. The Kentucky Wildcats since the late ’00s into the early ’10s was regarded as one of the most consistently dominant in college sports, but since 2012 has not won a single National Championship, and what is significant about 2012? The first time Drizzy was spotted in Wildcat colours.
The Golden State Warriors
At this point, I am struggling to see this as just a coincidence, and this isn’t the only incidence which has plagued Drakes beloved hoop. Drizzy is a proud Canadian and an avid Toronto Raptors fan, but he has made no secret of his admiration for The Golden State Warriors, and his friendship with Kevin Durant. So when in 2016, Drake bet his friend French Montana $60,000 that the Warriors that were coming off the back of a record-breaking 73 win regular season, and were already 3-1 back in a 7 game series would prevail over the Cleveland Cavaliers, it is safe to say I was peering through my hands at the result. Surely enough, my fears were quickly realised, and the LeBron-led Cavaliers stormed back to win three straight games and defeat the Warriors 4-3 completing the most unlikely come back in NBA finals history and once again cementing Drake as the unluckiest fan in the whole of sports.
Conor McGregor
The Drake curses have only increased in frequency with every occurrence, almost as if the more self-aware Drizzy has tried to be about his toxic fandom, the more toxic it has become. The next reported case came On October 6 2018, and a combat sports debut for the curse, as the day before the much-anticipated contest between UFC stars Conor Mcgregor and Khabib Nurmagomedov, the Notorious one posted a photo to Instagram with the caption “The 6 God and the 12 animal!” In the photo, pictured next to McGregor, is a scowling Drake with an Irish flag draped parodically around his shoulders. The rest, of course, is history, with McGregor being spectacularly submitted in the 4th round and with his Coach John Kavanagh post the bout vowing to roundhouse kick the Rapper if he tries to fraternise with McGregor again.
Alabama Crimson Tide
Just a few months later and the sporting dementor emerges again with a motivation speech via Instagram evidently in support due to a hoodie for the University of Alabama Crimson Tide. Nick Saban’s top-ranked Football program that was making their fourth appearance in the College Football Playoff National Championship game in five years, and was looking to extend the program’s dynasty by winning its seventh national title in a decade. Naturally, his words were generic, but unfortunately, all it takes is the association, and Crimson Tide would go on to lose to the second-ranked Clemnson Tigers 44-16. It was the program’s worst defeat in Saban’s 12-year tenure as head coach, ouch.
Sergio Aguero
By this stage, the Drake curse wasn’t a tongue in cheek explanation to a coincidence, it was very much a legitimate cause of some of the most jaw-dropping upsets in the whole of sport. So much so, that Italian Serie A team AS Roma felt compelled to tweet “All Roma players banned from taking photos with Drake until the end of the season” in an attempt not to derail their aspirations of qualifying for the Champions League. While other Football stars from across Europe did not head any such warning with the likes of Borussia Dortmund’s Jadon Sancho, Arsenal’s Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, Manchester City’s Sergio Aguero and Paris Saint-Germain’s Layvin Kurzawa – each of which took a photo with musician, and each of which went on to immediately lose their next match. With Aguero even missing a decisive penalty kick in City’s Champions League quarterfinal matchup with Tottenham.
Anthony Joshua
The last reported incident involving the Drake curse involved British Heavyweight boxer Anthony Joshua before his bout with Mexican-American fighter Andy Ruiz. AJ, the heavily-favoured British boxer, tweeted a photo of himself with Drizzy. The caption read, “Bout to break the curse #June1st.” queue face palm emoji. The 29-year-old was TKO’d in the seventh round by the smaller, more rotund Ruiz in front of a packed Madison Square Garden crowd, forfeiting all four of his heavyweight titles, wow.
Toronto Raptors
Drake refused to be deterred, many knowing the curse he undoubtedly possessed would opt to avoid all sporting events, pledge allegiance to no team, and hope for the best, but oh no. This is where we come to Drakes most beloved team, the Toronto Raptors, the NBA team of his home city, and a team he has been Global Ambassador for since late 2013. Since that year, the team has been a fixture in the NBA playoffs. The Raptors have won the Eastern Conference’s Atlantic Division five out of the last six years and have consistently been one of the league’s most feared playoff matchups. No one can describe that as cursed at all, and after Toronto acquired star forward Kawhi Leonard in the 2018 offseason, it was beginning to appear as if the NBA’s lone Canadian franchise may have found the antidote to La malédiction de Drake. Your suspicions would be correct, the Toronto Raptors captured their first ever NBA Championship by defeating defending Champions the Golden State Warriors and maybe ushering in this “Post-Curse” utopia for Drake, and it couldn’t be more fitting, with the curse being broken by the team he wanted to win the most. I guess that makes up for the countless shattered dreams spanning almost 5 years, sort of.