February 11, 2012: The Curse of Aaron Ramsey

February 11, 2012: Arsenal beat Sunderland, 2-1 at the Stadium of Light in Sunderland, Tyne and Wear, in the North-East of England. Thierry Henry, in his brief loan return to Arsenal, scored the winning goal in stoppage time. It was his 228th and last goal for the team, a record.

The earlier Arsenal goal was scored by Aaron Ramsey. Seven hours later, Whitney Houston died, and this led to jokes about "The Curse of Aaron Ramsey." (I have a separate entry for Whitney's death.)

This bizarre series of events began on October 16, 2009, when he scored his 1st goal for the Wales national team. Just hours later, Spanish journalist Andrés Montes died. Most people in the English-speaking world, not familiar with Montes, didn't notice. But a pattern did emerge, with some caveats:

* May 1, 2011: Ramsey scored the only goal in Arsenal's 1-0 win over Manchester United. Within hours, SEAL Team Six killed Osama bin Laden, who was famously hard to find, let alone kill.

* October 2, 2011: Ramsey scored the only Arsenal goal in a 2-1 loss to North London arch-rivals Tottenham Hotspur. Three days later, computer pioneer Steve Jobs died. Jobs was known to have terminal cancer, and 3 days is a bit of a stretch, so I'm not sure this one can be counted.

* October 19, 2011: Ramsey scored the only goal in Arsenal's 1-0 Champions League win over Olympique de Marseille. The next day, former Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi was killed. Like bin Laden, he was famously hard to find and kill, but having been deposed earlier in the year made it somewhat easier.

* February 11, 2012: The Ramsey-Houston combination. Arsenal fans began to joke about who was going to be next. Queen Elizabeth II? Zimbabwean dictator Robert Mugabe? A few angry, ungrateful Arsenal fans suggested the manager, Arsène Wenger.

* November 30, 2013: After nearly 2 years of no such occurrences, which led to many people forgetting about it, and which should have put an end to it, Ramsey scored against his former team, his hometown team, Cardiff City, in a 3-0 Arsenal win in Cardiff. Later that day, actor Paul Walker was killed in a car crash. The "curse" story was revived.

* May 17, 2014: Ramsey scored in extra time to win the FA Cup Final, giving Arsenal a 2-1 win over Hull City. The next day, singer Jerry Vale died. He was 83 years old, but was not known to be sick, so, you make the call.

* August 10, 2014: Ramsey scored in Arsenal's 3-0 Community Shield win over Manchester City. The next day, Robin Williams died. This certainly shouldn't be counted, as it was a suicide, and Williams could no longer take the strain of an illness that was making his life miserable.

* January 9, 2016: After nearly a year and a half of no occurrences, Ramsey scored in Arsenal's 3-1 FA Cup 3rd Round win over Sunderland. The next day, David Bowie died. The legendary rocker was known to have terminal cancer, so this one shouldn't be counted, either. However, in Arsenal's very next game:

* January 13, 2016: Ramsey scored in Arsenal's 3-3 draw with Liverpool. The next day, actor Alan Rickman died. He was just short of turning 70, and was not widely known to be ill. But it was revealed that he had been battling cancer for years, and had also recently had a stroke. So this is another that shouldn't be counted.

* March 5, 2016: Ramsey scored in a 2-2 draw with Tottenham. The next day, former First Lady Nancy Reagan died. This one absolutely should not be counted, since she was 94 years old.

* May 27, 2017: Once again, Ramsey scored the winning goal in the FA Cup Final, which Arsenal won, in this case 2-1 over Chelsea. Two days later, former Panamanian dictator Manuel Noriega died. But he was 86 and already sick.

So, 12 instances, over a period of 8 years. And most of them were hardly a surprise. Perhaps it's time to put this myth to rest.

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February 11, 2012 was a Saturday. Baseball and football were out of season. There were 8 games played in the NBA that day:

* The New York Knicks beat the Minnesota Timberwolves, 100-98 at the Target Center in Minneapolis.

* The New Jersey Nets lost to the San Antonio Spurs, 103-89 at the Prudential Center in Newark.

* The Los Angeles Clippers beat the Charlotte Bobcats, 111-86 at the Time Warner Cable Arena (now the Spectrum Center) in Charlotte.

* The Dallas Mavericks beat the Portland Trail Blazers, 97-94 in double overtime at the American Airlines Center in Dallas.

* The Philadelphia 76ers beat the Cleveland Cavaliers, 99-84 the Quicken Loans Arena (now the Rocket Arena) in Cleveland.

* The Denver Nuggets beat the Indiana Pacers, 113-109 at the Bankers Life Fieldhouse (now the Gainbridge Fieldhouse) in Indianapolis.

* The Orlando Magic beat the Milwaukee Bucks, 99-94 at the Bradley Center in Milwaukee.

* And the Phoenix Suns beat the Sacramento Kings, 98-84 at the Power Balance Pavilion (now the Sleep Train Arena) in Sacramento.

And there were 12 games played in the NHL:

* The New York Rangers beat the Philadelphia Flyers, 5-2 at the Wells Fargo Center (now the Xfinity Mobile Arena) in Philadelphia.

* The New York Islanders beat the Los Angeles Kings, 2-1 at the Nassau Coliseum. Mark Streit scored the winning goal, 1:36 into overtime.

* The New Jersey Devils lost to the Florida Panthers, 3-1 at the Prudential Center in Newark. 

* In the opener of the weekly Saturday night CBC broadcast Hockey Night In Canada, the NHL's original rivalry was held at the Air Canada Centre (now the Scotiabank Arena) in Toronto, and the Montreal Canadiens beat the Toronto Maple Leafs, 5-0.

* The Boston Bruins beat the Nashville Predators, 4-3 in a shootout at the TD Garden in Boston.

* The Edmonton Oilers beat the Ottawa Senators, 4-3 at Scotiabank Place (now the Canadian Tire Centre) in Ottawa.

* The Tampa Bay Lightning beat Buffalo Sabres, 2-1 at the First Niagara Center (now the KeyBank Center) in Buffalo.

* The Pittsburgh Penguins beat the Winnipeg Jets, 8-5 at the Consol Energy Center (now the PPG Paints Arena) in Pittsburgh.

* The Columbus Blue Jackets beat the Minnesota Wild, 3-1 at the Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul.

* The St. Louis Blues beat the Colorado Avalanche, 3-2 at the Scottrade Center (now the Enterprise Center) in St. Louis. Carlo Colaiacovo scored the winning goal with 1:42 left in overtime.

* The Phoenix Coyotes beat the Chicago Blackhawks, 3-0 at the Jobing.com Arena (now the Desert Diamond Arena) in the Phoenix suburb of Glendale, Arizona.

* In the nightcap of Hockey Night In Canada, the Calgary Flames beat the Vancouver Canucks, 3-2 in a shootout at the Saddledome in Calgary.

* And the Detroit Red Wings, the Dallas Stars, the Washington Capitals, the Carolina Hurricanes, the San Jose Sharks and the Anaheim Ducks were not scheduled.