A viewer asks: “The Detroit Lions have a long history of playing tough bruising football, but somehow always ending up losing in the final minutes, often in the most unexpected (yet “expected”) ways. The wonder isn’t whether they’ll lose – fans can actually “feel” the loss coming. It’s “how” it happens that is usually unexpected. A terrible inexplicable penalty call by a referee. A miraculous catch by the opposing team in spite of good defense play, a rarely made mistake on the part of a key player, etc. How much does the sheer “expectation” of losing on the part of fans and even the team itself play into creating these forever repeating outcomes?”

This is an insightful question because you are probing a dimension people do not think of normally. The idea of being cursed is universally understood but not all believe in the ability for that to happen. In a sense, this is a more profound eventuality because it is a collective cursing that represents the sum total of negativity on the part of players and fans and their management and coaching staff that builds within and comes to the fore on game days and the energies go forth and will target the players on the field in particular, and then less so those governing their actions involved behind the scenes, but all are influenced by the negative energies swirling about. This creates a perfect backdrop and potential for disaster when there is a building history of failure through repeated losses. If this continues through a season and then recurs in the subsequent season, the die is cast for a major karmic headwind that will take quite some doing to surmount and get things back on an even keel with a successful ability to compete with other teams and re-establish a better track record. This is often easier said than done. Some of the surface solutions that can begin to turn the tide is when there is new management, new coaching brought in with fresh perspectives and more effective encouragement and upliftment of the team members to help them regain confidence and give them a reason to believe in the possibility of better times. The infusion of money to recruit high-level talent is another wild card that can bring an infusion of optimism along with it as well as fresh blood, so to speak, untainted by prior failures with the organization in question and will be starting fresh and unhindered, in that respect at least, provided their personal history is not following them to haunt them in a similar fashion. They will be personally under extra pressure because all will look to them as a kind of savior and they must be ready and stand strong and be resilient and able to overcome their own inner negativity, but that is what the superb top athletes manage to accomplish that makes them special. They are truly super performers with regard to managing their inner emotions and their karma as well. They may be the recipient of much good karma as opposed to the negative sort as a consequence of prior success and belief in themselves and this may well be supported also by prior lifetimes as a winner in many settings and this, just like the negativity that can haunt a subsequent life, will set them up to excel and to find things coming their way easily and effortlessly almost. That is a good sign that karma is on their side. It is earned and is deserved accordingly, but not all karma is one’s individual doing. Sometimes good fortune enters in if one is on a trophy-winning team. There is often the energy of a collective effort responsible for the successful season equal to that contributed by the superstars among them. This is amply illustrated by teams where one or two superstars proves to be inadequate to bring about victory on a consistent basis, hence the universal recognition that ultimately good teamwork must be practiced and in evidence to win the day on a consistent basis.