Superstitions: Stamps vs. Flames

Although I am a fan on the Flames, I like to spend time during the offseason on the benches at McMahon stadium. Now, I've heard a lot of hockey fans tell me that football is boring/dumb/sucks, and its hard to argue with personal taste (unless you like baseball). For those people, I offer this scenario: Sunny summer evening, $17 ticket, Spolumbos italian sausage in the right hand, frosty cold Molson product in the left, and brutal, ritualized violence. It makes life worth living.

I know that WI has numerous Flames superstitions; jrXL vs. Gio, jrXL washing, tupperware(?), the black aces, and right now she is passing plastic bangles from one wrist to the other with every win/loss. So when WI was good enough to come along on my second seat this summer, she offered this comment:

"I'm sorry, but I find it hard to cheer for the Stamps. Any season where they're winning the Flames can't get it together."

I'd like to have her on our side this Sunday, so I ran the numbers. To prove that the guys at M&G aren't the only ones who can post mathy stuff, try this on:

I took some artistic license with the axes and had to smooth out the line for the strike season, but it sure looks impressive and carries an air of statistical authority. When I run the correlation, it comes out to -0.3. A weak negative correlation, but she's not completely wrong. Damn.

Then I thought, what about the championships? Maybe both teams have won at the same time, erasing the possibility of a link. Now, the CFL only has 8 teams, so winning a Grey Cup isn't nearly as unlikely as winning an NHL championship. Also, the Flames sample size is a little small, so for hockey I went with divisional champsionships and Grey Cups for the Stamps. Here they are:

Again, it would seem that the two teams cannot have good seasons in concert. This is all unfortunately in support of WI's assertion, so I guess I'll have to let her cheer against my team this afternoon.

Just don't wear green. Only douchebags wear green.