Leafs coach Mike Babcock shoots down "Drake Curse"

Stan Temming


A deadly mix of meme culture and confirmation bias, the “Drake Curse” has become a recurring storyline within the sports world in the past year or so. You see, unfortunately for the Canadian rapper and producer, the teams — and individuals — that he has supported of late have had an awful track record.

In fact, if you consistently bet against whoever Drake supports, you would be a very profitable gambler. But did his presence within the walls of Scotiabank Arena on Wednesday night result in the Toronto Maple Leafs losing 6-4 to the Boston Bruins in Game 4 of their Eastern Conference first-round series?

Leave it to Leafs head coach Mike Babcock to be the voice of reason for those looking to draw a connection between the two.

In fairness, Toronto’s defeat is the most recent in a long list of failures for those who have received Drake’s backing. And, in the process, the infamy of his “curse” has only grown stronger.

He was draped in an Irish flag during Conor McGregor’s weigh-in ahead of his bout with Khabib Nurmagomedov at UFC 229 last October. McGregor went on lose to the Russian. (Then, as you may recall, a whole bunch of extracurricular excitement occurred.)

Earlier this year, Drake revealed his love of the Alabama Crimson Tide football team before their national title game against the Clemson Tigers. Alabama lost 44-16.

Recently, he posed for a photo alongside Paris Saint-Germain’s Layvin Kurzawa that the soccer star posted to Instagram on Apr. 12. Two days later, PSG lost 5-1 to Lille OSC.

The fear of the “Curse” has become so intense amongst professional sports franchises that some are even banning their players — and I wish I was kidding — from taking photos with the guy!

So, when the Leafs blew the opportunity to grab a 3-1 lead in the series with Champagne Papi in the building, fans happily made him the scapegoat. And while plenty of those individuals presented the argument jokingly, not everyone did.

Drake was in attendance for Toronto’s Game 4 loss to Boston.
Drake was in attendance for Toronto’s Game 4 loss to Boston.

To the haters of Drake, I ask you to reason with me. Could this all not just be a coincidence? Do you seriously believe that one person in a suite high above the action could have that much of an impact on the outcome? We’re talking about Drake here, not President Coriolanus Snow of the Capitol.

If anything, his presence should have inspired the Maple Leafs. The Toronto native’s story of perseverance is incredible! This is the man who Started from the Bottom, after all.

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