There are announcer jinxes and then there’s whatever higher power Ian Eagle appeared to have Wednesday night during the Brooklyn Nets-Phoenix Suns game.
In their first time facing Kevin Durant since he was dealt to Phoenix last season, the Nets played a relatively mistake-free first quarter, which Eagle noted to his YES Network broadcast partner Sarah Kustok.
“You don’t believe in announcer jinxes, right?”
Uh-oh pic.twitter.com/zOtg2RT3Gv— Awful Announcing (@awfulannouncing) December 14, 2023
“Sarah, you don’t believe in announcer jinxes, right?” Eagle asked. And after Kustok confirmed she didn’t believe in that power, Eagle comfortably said, “The Nets have zero turnovers.”
You can probably imagine what happened next.
“Here’s Thomas,” Eagle continued as he immediately jumped right back into giving play-by-play. “The drive in on Eubanks, the fadeaway, it goes! But a travel. That was an announcer jinx.”
The Nets had zero turnovers through the first 13 minutes of the game. It took just four seconds for them to commit a turnover after Eagle mentioned “announcer jinxes” and read the stat. Untimely turnover, or announcer jinx?
On the very next Nets’ possession, the ball barely crossed halfcourt before Dorian Finney-Smith was called for an offensive foul. That’s back-to-back turnovers after more than 13 minutes of mistake-free basketball for Brooklyn, and they have Ian Eagle to thank.
“Since you brought up the fact that Brooklyn had zero turnovers, they’ve now had back-to-back turnovers in two possessions,” Kustok noted. “Maybe I do believe in announcer jinxes.”’
We should all believe in announcer jinxes after watching this string of events. Eagle isn’t the first announcer to read a stat that prompts a possible jinx. But Eagle teased his jinx! That’s the ultimate announcer jinx. Bringing up Brooklyn’s lack of turnovers in the vein of announcer jinxes, propelling them to start a string of back-to-back turnovers just four seconds later is the kind of announcer jinx that even scriptwriters would avoid.
“Well, that’s why I asked you ahead of time. If you would have said you did believe then I would not have given the stat,” Eagle said,
Why is Eagle trying to pass the blame of the announcer jinx off to Kustok? Harness this power and find a way to use it for good.
