The announcer jinx has long been a subject of discussion. The most typical form of this is for an announcer to talk about a particular streak, only to have that streak suddenly end. And that came in really remarkable fashion during Fox’s broadcast of the Dallas Cowboys-Washington Commanders game Sunday.
There, play-by-play voice Kevin Burkhardt brought up Cowboys’ kicker Brandon Aubrey’s perfect season on field goals (35 for 35 at that point) with Aubrey facing a 32-yard attempt in the first quarter. Analyst Greg Olsen tried to stop Burkhardt, but with no success. And Aubrey promptly missed:
https://twitter.com/SuperHeroTo5/status/1744117576966271345
On Monday, both Burkhardt and Olsen addressed this on Twitter/X. That’s notable considering that they’re set to call the Cowboys’ playoff game against the Green Bay Packers this coming Sunday. And Burkhardt seemingly offered a sarcastic “apology” to the Cowboys’ fans he’s no doubt been hearing from. He also jokingly took credit for the Cowboys’ successes:
https://twitter.com/kevinburkhardt/status/1744358832275337398
Meanwhile, Olsen quote-tweeted that with a Game of Thrones clip showing Jon Snow facing a cavalry charge alone:
https://twitter.com/gregolsen88/status/1744362164243046695
And Burkhardt laughed at that:
https://twitter.com/kevinburkhardt/status/1744364712484053162
This is pretty good handling of this by Burkhardt and Olsen. Yes, the announcers don’t actually impact on-field outcomes (except perhaps where they’re interviewing players live mid-play, and even that doesn’t seem to produce anywhere near the problems you might expect). But announcer jinxes (and their cousin, reverse jinxes) are still fun to note and talk about. But it’s going too far to yell at announcers when a jinx comes to pass. Or, as Burkhardt notes, if you’re going to do that, maybe you should give them credit for favorable outcomes too.
[Kevin Burkhardt on Twitter/X]
