Two magazine cover jinxes and many unanswered questions

In case you were wondering…

-Think the Sports Illustrated cover jinx doesn’t exist?… In case you were wondering…

-Think the Sports Illustrated cover jinx doesn’t exist? Think again.

Earlier this year, the Philadelphia Eagles were featured on the cover after defeating the Green Bay Packers in the National Football Conference’s semifinals. The following week, the Eagles lost to the Carolina Panthers.

The same thing then happened to Carolina. The Panthers were on the cover following their big win, and promptly lost the Super Bowl the following week.

It’s carried over to college basketball as well. Less than a day after that week’s issue of SI had been released, Alabama-Birmingham — which was on the cover with Alabama — dropped its Sweet 16 game against Kansas.

The Crimson Tide fared only slightly better, making it to the Elite Eight before losing to Connecticut.

-The jinx hasn’t been limited to just Sports Illustrated.

Its college equivalent, Sports Illustrated on Campus, has also given some bad luck to those who have graced its cover.

Last semester, undefeated Oklahoma was featured on the term’s final issue. The Sooners then lost their next two games. A few issues before that, the ESPN GameDay crew was on the cover, and was in a minor car accident a couple of weeks later.

It has carried on to this semester as well.

Josh Childress, Stanford’s top player, was featured on the cover with former UCLA coach John Wooden. Stanford, which lost only one game all season, lost its second-round game to Alabama that weekend.

Last week’s issue featured Pitt’s very own Panther holding a sign, which read “San Antonio or bust.” You don’t need me to tell you that neither the Panther, nor Pitt’s basketball team, will be headed to Texas this year.

-With that in mind, would it be possible for either publication to put Duke on the cover this week? Please?

-While they’re at it, how about putting the Yankees on the cover, too. Every single week.

-There was a proposal made to the NFL this past week to expand the number of playoff teams from 12 to 14, meaning that seven teams from each conference would be in the postseason.

But why just add two teams? With that format, the No. 1 seed in each conference would be the only team with a bye, giving those teams an unfair advantage.

So why not add two teams to each conference and give no one a bye?

-Instant replay is sticking around for the next five seasons in the NFL, and it comes with a special offer.

If a coach uses his two challenges and gets both right, the team gets a third challenge. However, only once last season did a team use two challenges successfully, so what are the chances of that third one ever being used?

-Did the Yankees really lose that badly to Tampa Bay in Japan, or did the score get messed up when being translated?

-Why does Major League Baseball think it’s a good idea to have two teams start the season a week early? And why in Japan?

-Why am I asking so many questions?

Joe Marchilena is the sports editor of The Pitt News, and he really doesn’t have a clue.