Curse of the scapegoat

Scapegoat. The term comes from the Bible and refers to a ritual where the sins of the people are symbolically placed on the head of a goat. Later, the goat is sent into the wilderness.

And in the dictionary, next to the word "scapegoat," is a photo of Steve Bartman, the hapless Cubs fan who kept outfielder Moises Alou from making a catch and — in the minds of some angry Chicagoans — kept the Cubs out of this year's World Series.

Helicopters are buzzing Bartman's house. The Internet is overflowing with his picture. He can't go out of the house.

Cubs fans are a loyal lot. And they have long memories.

They also need to get on with their lives.

Hanging the loss on Bartman, of course, is an easy out. Alou may not have made the catch anyway. And if he had, it was only the eighth inning. Chances are good — some would say inevitable — that the Marlins would have rallied to win.

The Cubs lost because they folded in the clutch.

But in the world of scapegoating, that's hardly the issue. The idea in scapegoating is to take a very complicated, frustrating situation and try to simplify it by blaming one cause.

Chicago citizens forget they also tried to pin the disastrous Chicago fire on Mrs. O'Leary's cow kicking over a lantern.

Put goat horns on Mrs. O'Leary.

When the White Sox lost the 1959 World Series to the Dodgers, the blame was laid on a sleepy third base coach.

Give him some horns.

And the reason the Cubs haven't been to the World Series in 58 years is supposedly due to a real goat. A man brought a goat to a game, was turned away, and said the Cubs would never get back to the World Series again.

The "curse of the goat" lives on.

Chicagoans even have a "scapegoat goat."

Still, frustrated Cubs fans shouldn't be singled out. Everyone plays "pin the blame on the goat" from time to time.

Boston fans still blame Billy Buckner's error for costing them the 1986 World Series.

When the Utah Jazz first failed to win an NBA title, the goat, in local minds, was the referee who made a "no call" against Michael Jordan. When the team failed again the next year, fans put horns on Karl Malone.