There have been a lot of announcer jinxes over the years, where commentators say something and are immediately proven wrong. But the field of reverse jinxes is perhaps more interesting, where announcers say something will happen and then it does.
A data-focused alternate broadcast for the NHL’s Utah Hockey Club in their game against the Vancouver Canucks Wednesday provided a remarkable example of that, with commentators Nick Olczyk, Mike Kelly, and Jamison Coyle absolutely predicting where Utah would score a retaliatory goal.
Kelly addressed that in an X post on this:
And people say announcer jinxes aren’t real – You’re welcome @utahhockeyclub fans 😉
Thanks to everyone who watched The Lab on Wednesday – we had a blast. Utah back at it tonight against the Wild. pic.twitter.com/JMjWdN3PRD
— Mike Kelly (@MikeKellyNHL) December 20, 2024
“Oh, the Canucks have a shutout right now? Oh, they haven’t allowed any goals right now?” Yeah, that’s a pretty good setup for a Utah goal. (And that paid off for the audience; this was a data-driven Utah alternate broadcast that was only viewable through their team-specific streaming platform as well as their combined platform with the NBA’s Utah Jazz.) And Utah eventually won this contest 3-2, so that worked out overall.
It’s interesting to see how far the concepts of announcer jinxes and reverse jinxes have gone. Indeed, those are clearly understood by the announcers in question right now. And while not all attempts to provide a jinx or reverse jinx are likely to work out as quickly or dramatically as this one did, it’s still something that this is a thing many broadcasters are now discussing.
[Mike Kelly on X]
