The Curse of Bill Murray

It happened again.

Last Friday night I was all nestled snug in my bed; while visions of Dez Fitzpatrick stiff-arming Miami defenders like Mario Urrutia danced in my head.

Saturday, I woke peacefully as I took in my first breaths of the crisp autumn air sweeping in. I grabbed my phone to see what I had missed on ESPN’s College GameDay so far only for my world to be flipped upside down

For those of you who are unfamiliar with my long line of prestigious written works, I wrote about this exact thing in my pre-Chron days.

“What is this?” you ask.

This is the Curse of Bill Murray.

Now let me soften the ensuing blow by saying I believe Bill Murray is a living legend. He is a comedic genius whose talents know no bounds and are marveled by those of all ages. Through the years he has become one of the greatest performers of all time and has gathered a cult following with it. And not just for his talents. He has a massive fanbase because he’s also just a good person who does good things and spreads joy to others.

Not often do we see someone in the limelight treat others with so much compassion, nor do we often see them so heavily involved in their children’s’ lives.

Which is why it has been such a pleasure seeing how involved he has been in and around the programs his son, Luke Murray, has coached at.

Bill famously spoke on being a father in Lost In Translation where he said, “It’s the most terrifying day of your life the day the first one is born. Your life, as you know it, is gone. Never to return. But they learn how to walk, and they learn how to talk, and…and you want to be with them. And they turn out to be the most delightful people you will ever meet in your life.”

Movie line or not, it’s hard not to believe that Murray really views fatherhood this way with how he has attended so many Xavier and Louisville games over the years just to watch his son coach. It’s a beautiful thing, and Louisville fans are lucky to have him as a part of the basketball program, and now also the football program, as long as we can.

Bill also once said, “Would you knock me out, please? Just hit me in the face.”

More than anything Bill has ever done or said, this is thing that resonates most with me.

Why?

Because that’s exactly how I feel when I see the news that Bill Murray is attending a Louisville game, and it’s exactly how I felt when I saw he would be Louisville’s College GameDay Celebrity Guest Picker.

To get the newly initiated Bill Murray Has Cursed Louisville members up to speed, here’s a quick synopsis:

Of the nine basketball games that Bill has attended through Chris Mack’s two seasons in the Derby City, Louisville has only won two(!) of them.

Here’s the track record:

· 11/21/2018 – Tennessee: LOSS

· 11/23/2018 – Marquette: LOSS

· 12/1/2018 – Seton Hall: WIN

· 3/21/2019 – Minnesota: LOSS

· 11/5/2019 – Miami (FL): WIN

· 12/10/2019 – Texas Tech: LOSS

· 12/29/2019 – Kentucky: LOSS

· 2/15/2020 – Clemson: LOSS

· 2/24/2020 – Florida St.: LOSS

Not only does Bill Murray’s attendance record have an awful winning percentage, but he has been in attendance for some of the most abysmal performances in recent memory.

His losses include one of the worst three-point shooting teams in the country getting red hot and shooting 40.4% from behind the arc to knock out Louisville in the first round of the tournament, Louisville getting wrecked by a Clemson team that was 12-12 at the time, and one of the worst three-point shooting teams in the country getting red hot (again) and shooting 46.7% from behind the arc to snatch their 11th win in the last 13 meetings.

No, it’s not Ground Hog Day. You’re really seeing basically the same thing continuing to happen again and again. It’s called a trend.

Speaking of trends, let’s talk about how significantly bad Louisville’s shooting has been under the watchful eye of Bill Murray. In the four losses that Father Murray attended last season, the Cardinals shot an atrocious 39.8% from the floor, with an even more horrendous 22.4% 3-point average. As you can imagine, these numbers are far below the 2019-20 team averages (45.3% and 37.6%, respectively).

But the pain doesn’t stop there, my friends. There is another nightmare that we continue to see over-and-over-and-over-and-over-and-over-and-over-and-over again: Over the seven losses that Bill Murray is absolutely responsible for, opposing teams have shot lights out. In the Bill Murray-plagued losses, opposing teams averaged a 47.4 field goal percentage (opp. avg. over previous two seasons = 39.4%), and a 3-point average of 37% (opp. avg. over previous two seasons = 33.4%).

Cursed.

But not all curses are bad. Some curses win you money, like the BVG Curse. The Bill Murray Curse is 2-6-1 ATS. And 0-6 ATS in games after Jan. 1. Fade the curse.

So, can you take a wild guess as to what happened Saturday night when the Cards faced off against a Miami team that looked like an even match on paper?

Exactly.

Go ahead and add football to the list, and update the Bill Murray Curse to 2-7-1 ATS (always fade the curse).

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Look, because I know you’re reading this I just wanted to say that I love you, Bill Murray. Hell, you even filmed a movie in Louisville that was actually good (looking at you, Elizabethtown). And I respect the hell out of the love for your son and the support you give him...

But for the sake of our beloved school and its teams, can you please spend quality time with Luke doing normal father-son things like asking him to help you with your iPad? Or have him help you clean the garage? Thank you.