Funny enough, the curse got its origins during a jubilant time in Tigers' history.

The team, mostly an underdog franchise throughout its existence, shocked the Japanese baseball world by winning the Central League pennant in 1985. Hundreds of fans frolicked through the streets of Osaka, singing and chanting deep into the night. Eventually the crowd gathered around Dōtombori Canal -- a sludgy, extremely polluted river in the city. A bit high off the victory (and a bit inebriated), the fans looked at each other, looked at the water, and knew what they had to do next.

"The river has that history," Raichura told me. "There's some famous author, or Manga writer, or someone like that, who said in the 80's: 'If the Tigers win the pennant, I'll jump in the river.'"

So, one by one, fans jumped into the canal. Each pretended they were a member of their first-place team so others could serenade them with the player's song during their dives. But when they got to Randy Bass -- the America-born player who hit 54 homers that season for the Tigers -- the revelers realized nobody in their group looked like him. But there was something nearby that did: A giant statue of Colonel Sanders outside the local Kentucky Fried Chicken.

They pulled the statue from the store and tossed it in the river, celebrating as it sank deep into the murky waters.

The Tigers went on to win the Japan Series a few weeks later. There was no talk of any curse yet, and why would there be? The team had just won the whole thing.

But then, after the '85 championship, things began to go awry.