SI Jinx or the Guarantee? Which VooDoo is Stronger?

Many people in the wide world of sports are a little superstitious. They may not admit it; they may not even know it. When it comes to a team we are playing on or a team we follow there is a nothing we will not do if we think it will help our team win.

Whether it means we have to stand up for the entire game, jump in a lake of ice cold water, eat nothing but Twizzlers, wear our hats backwards or our underwear inside out--if it can help the team we will do it.

That being said, if you think there is anything to personal superstitions like that then you probably get a little nervous when there is something a bit bigger involved. 

For example, there was probably a politician or two that watched the Redskins/Panthers game prior to the election to see if the Redskins Rule would predict the election for Obama or Romney. If you don't know what that is, for 17 of the previous 18 elections when the Redskins won their last home game prior to the presidential election the incumbent won.

That of course didn't work this time around (I haven't heard any explanation for it yet), but hey--no superstition is perfect...

One that more people are probably familiar with is the Madden Curse. The belief is that whatever player gets featured on the cover off the iconic video game is going to have a bad season (injury, contract issues--right Peyton Hillis?--or just a flat out bad season). 

The book is still out on whether Calvin Johnson is falling victim to it. He's wracking up the catches and yards (73 grabs for 1257 yards through 12 games) which would make it seem like it isn't, but the man has not seen the end zone very much this season (only four with just one in the first nine games). So maybe it is...

Saturday night another superstition is going to be seriously tested. The Notre Dame Fighting Irish are No. 1 in the country for the first time since 1993 and facing one of their big rivals, the USC Trojans. 

USC has not lived up to their preseason hype this season. Without Matt Barkley behind center the liklihood that the Trojans are going to be serious competition is slim to none. So what has some die hard Notre Dame fans worries?

The dreaded SI Jinx!

For some reason there have been too many times where a player or team was featured on the cover of Sport Illustrated and then bad things happened. Most recently this took the formerly No. 1 Kansas State Wildcats and their Heisman candidate, Colin Klein. November 13 saw Colin Klein featured. A few days later Klein turns in a horrible game against Baylor and the Wildcats get spanked 52-24. 

[Check out this artice found at the USAToday site for more]

Notre Dame was featured on the cover of the last SI. So does that mean they are screwed?

Before you get worried Fighting Irish faithful, there is voodoo that works in your favor!

USC will be starting Max Wittek since Barkley is out. The freshman will be making his first start and getting the most playing time of his young career on a national stage against one of the toughest defenses in the country. So what does he do?

He guarantees a victory.

Now the last time that I an remember that ever working was when Broadway Joe Namath did it way back before Super Bowl III. Many have tried since and most have failed. I'm sure there are some that where right, but I haven't heard of too many.

More often than not when you talk that kind of trash you lose.

So which will it be? Will the SI jinx kill Notre Dame's national title hopes? Or will young Max Wittek's guarantee cancel it out?

We'll find out Saturday night.