It’s a running online joke that seemingly has the data to back its point: Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) is bad luck for Texas sports teams.
“Sports bettors are now 15-2 since 2017 when betting the moneyline against teams Ted Cruz shows up to support in person,” wrote the X account for Reddit’s College Football community. “They would have profited $2,344 if they placed a $100 bet on each game.”
The renewal of the joke came after Cruz was spotted at the Sugar Bowl between the University of Texas at Austin’s Longhorns and the University of Washington’s Huskies, which the undefeated Huskies won 37-31.
“we lost. the ted cruz curse is too strong,” wrote one user on X.
“Ted Cruz curse strikes again,” posted another person.
“The Ted Cruz Curse is absolutely real,” concluded someone else.
One user jested: “need to start a class action lawsuit to anyone who has been victimized by ted cruz showing up to their sporting event wearing their colors and contributing to a loss.”
The Longhorns’ loss prompted several social media users to call on Cruz to be banned from future games to avoid his so-called curse.
“For the sake of all Texans, Republican and Democrat, Ted Cruz needs to be banned from any Texas team’s post season games,” wrote a self-described “jaded Longhorns fan” on X.
“We need to call a special session to ban Ted Cruz from appearing at ANY Texas sporting event in the future,” wrote another person, who added in a second post: “If that man shows up at a potential Cowboys playoff game, I’m turning off the TV.”
State Sen. Roland Gutierrez, a Democratic candidate vying to oust Cruz in 2024, wrote that “everywhere Ted Cruz goes, losses follow.”
“We don’t want Ted at our football games,” he added. “We don’t want Ted representing us in the Senate. Texans don’t want Ted.”
Is the Ted Cruz sports curse real?
In October, Cruz responded to a Rolling Stone story detailing how some Houston Astros fans were “begging” Cruz to not attend Game 7 of the American League Championship Series.
“For 7 years, Catherine & I have attended nearly EVERY Astros home playoff game,” Cruz wrote. “If they’re going to blame me for our recent home losses, pls also credit us for TWO World Series Championships & SEVEN consecutive ALCS’s—we were there cheering Stros on!”
The Texas Rangers defeated the Astros 11-4 that game and went on to win the 2023 World Series over the Arizona Diamondbacks.
Cruz has faced similar accusations of bringing a “curse” to sports games when he attended the 2018 NBA playoff game in which the Golden State Warriors knocked out the Houston Rockets, and in 2019, when Texas Tech lost the NCAA championship game in overtime to the Virginia Cavaliers 77-85.
Cruz posted an infamous selfie to social media at that game prior to Texas Tech’s loss.
“35 seconds. ONE point LEAD. GO RED RAIDERS!!! #1 Defense,” Cruz said.
After the game, Cruz wrote called it “a heartbreaking loss, but an AMAZING game” and congratulated Texas Tech for its “history-making season.”
