1936 Just Won't Go Away

The Pittsburgh Steelers are currently one of the best teams in the NFL. They are the only team to have handed Philadphia and New England losses this year, and the Steelers will likely be in the Super Bowl come February.

So when the hapless Washington Redkins went up against them earlier today, pretty much everyone was expecting a bloodbath. And though the Skins lost 16-7, at least they didn't thoroughly embarrass themselves like in last week's 26-6 loss to the Eagles.

Indeed, the Redskins have been having a horrible year, and it's all the more disappointing because everyone had such high hopes with the return of Joe Gibbs. Not only are they at a dismal 3-8 for the season, the team has now gone 11 games without scoring at least 20 points. This is the first time that has happened since 1936.

But the low point had to be when they blew the outcome of the presidential election. As you may recall, the Redskins had been accurately forecasting the outcome of the presidential election since--there's that year again--1936. Whenever the team lost their last home game prior to election day, the incumbent party would end up losing the White House. Likewise, whenever Washington won their last home game before the election, the incumbent party kept the White House (See item 5). So when the Skins lost to Green Bay at home on Oct. 31, it seemed to foretell a John Kerry victory on Nov. 2.

Oh, and there's one other noteworthy item about how 1936 ties into the events of 2004: It's the last time the cicadas came out during a presidential election year!

Yes, it's true. Those horny little buggers, who operate on a 17 year cycle, emerged to have sweaty cicada sex in 1987, 1970, 1953, and... 1936!

Isn't it obvious what this means? The Redskins won't be scoring 20 points or more again until the year 2072!