The Strictly Come Dancing ‘curse’ has taken many victims, but musical theatre contestant Amber Davies is confident that she and Nikita will not be a part of it
Jessica Clarke Digital Reporter
22:54, 12 Oct 2025
For years, the Strictly Come Dancing ‘curse’ has haunted the ballroom(Image: Guy Levy/BBC/PA)
For years, the Strictly Come Dancing ‘curse’ has haunted the ballroom, blamed for break-ups, busted engagements, and headline-making scandals. But while the dancefloor has seen its fair share of heartbreak, Amber Davies is confident she won’t be a victim of the ‘curse’.
Lauren has also hit back at viewers who claimed that they wanted Amber and Nikita to succumb to the curse and said: “Please be respectful to the real-life partners and let them have a good experience of the show too.”
Amber and Nikita appear to be going from strength to strength in the competition and scored a whopping 35 for their American Smooth. They danced to the track Sixteen Going on Seventeen from The Sound of Music, which put them second on the leaderboard.
A source has since revealed that Amber is going to be taking the competition ‘one week at a time’ and that she ‘isn’t complacent’. The source also gave an insight into Amber’s thoughts on the ‘Strictly curse’.
They said to The Sun: “As for the curse, she’s madly in love with Ben and he is 100 per cent supportive of her. They are both performers and know how to block out the noise. They have zero doubt the curse won’t touch them. Amber and Lauren get on really well. They swapped numbers early on.”
Amber has been sharing some behind-the-scenes footage on her social media and revealed that her beau Ben has been watching her videos every day.
She said in a TikTok live video: “He is always like ‘let me see the tapes from today’. Sometimes Ben will make me bits and bobs for lunch. Contestants can stay in hotels but I don’t before a live show. I want to be in my own bed with my dog and my boyfriend.”
Amber didn’t even know she was going to be on Strictly until 48 hours before her first dance when she was whisked into the cast of the BBC show as a replacement for fellow Love Island winner Dani Dyer, who had sustained an injury in rehearsals before the first live show.
Just days before she was announced as Dani’s replacement, it was revealed that she will be taking on the tough role of Elle Woods, the part originally made famous by Reese Witherspoon in the 2001 classic, in a new UK tour of Legally Blonde.
In 1853, Antioch College opened in Yellow Springs, Ohio, as the first non-sectarian school to offer equal opportunity for both men and women.
In 1889, Thomas Edison debuts his first motion picture.
In 1908, Austria-Hungary annexes Bosnia-Herzegovina, dual provinces in Europe’s Balkan region which were formerly under the control of the Ottoman Empire, sparking a crisis.
In 1927, The Jazz Singer starring Al Jolson, Hollywood’s legendary “first talkie,” premiered in New York, ushering in the era of sound and a subsequent end of the silents.
In 1945, the Curse of the Billy Goat was placed on the Chicago Cubs when Billy Sianis and his pet billy goat were ejected from Wrigley Field during Game 4 of the World Series because his pet goat’s strong odor. The curse ended in 2016, when the Cubs won the World Series.
File Photo by Kamil Krzaczynski/UPI
In 1973, Egypt and Syria, attempting to win back territory lost during the third Arab-Israeli war, launched a coordinated attack against Israel on Yom Kippur, the holiest day on the Jewish calendar. This conflict, which would last 19 days, would become known as the Yom Kippur War.
In 1991, Elizabeth Taylor walked down the aisle for the eighth time when she married Larry Fortensky. Though she had eight weddings, the actor had seven grooms; she married Richard Burton twice.
In 2001, Cal Ripken Jr. retired after a baseball career with the Baltimore Orioles that included playing in a record 2,632 consecutive games.
File Photo by Chris Corder/UPI
In 2004, a U.S. weapons inspector said Iraq began destroying its illicit weapons in 1991 and had none by 1996, seven years before the United States invaded. A report determined that 12 years of international sanctions had succeeded in disarming the country of weapons of mass destruction.
In 2017, the tropical storm that would later increase in intensity to Hurricane Nate entered the Gulf of Honduras. The storm made landfall in two days later in Louisiana and resulted in nearly 50 deaths in Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, Panama and the United States.
In 2017, the Nobel Committee awarded its annual Peace Prize to the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons.
In 2018, Brett Kavanaugh took the oath of office to become a justice on the Supreme Court after a contentious confirmation process in which he was accused of sexual misconduct.
In 2021, the World Health Organization recommended the wide rollout of the world’s first malaria vaccine for children after a two-year pilot program showed promising results.
In 2023, Simone Biles won her sixth all-around world championship title in Antwerp, Belgium. The win made her the most decorated gymnast in history.
Chris Robshaw’s wife Camilla Kerslake has made a drastic move to head off speculation about Strictly Come Dancing’s infamous curse just days before he takes to the dancefloor
Chris Robshaw’s wife plots genius plan to escape dreaded ‘Strictly curse’(Image: Max Cisotti/Dave Benett/Getty Im)
Strictly Come Dancing is set to return this weekend, and former England rugby captain Chris Robshaw will be among the new celebrity contestants.
However, while he prepares to take to the dancefloor, his wife Camilla Kerslake has reportedly already taken steps to make sure the infamous and dreaded ‘Strictly curse’ doesn’t enter their marriage.
Camilla, 37, who tied the knot with Chris, 39, in 2018, is said to be keen to shut down speculation before it starts and has even invited his professional partner over for dinner.
“Camilla is a woman’s woman. She knows it’s inevitable that women will be compared and pitted against each other, but she won’t stand for that. She’s always been very vocal about women supporting each other and has already invited Chris’ partner over for dinner.
“She wants to build a friendship outside of the show in a bid to stop any gossiping around the curse,” a source revealed.
Chris is apart of this years series of Strictly (Image: CREDIT LINE:BBC/Ray Burmiston)
Camilla is determined to beat the dreaded Strictly curse(Image: Max Cisotti/Dave Benett/Getty Im)
According to insiders, Chris’ dance partner has been receptive to Camilla’s efforts, with both women finding common ground and planning to spend time together before the series begins.
“Chris thinks they’ll hit it off as mates,” the source added, “and he’s joked to friends that he’ll end up being the third wheel,” they told The Sun.
The ‘Strictly curse’ has become a well-worn talking point since the show first began in 2004, with several celebrity contestants leaving long-term partners for their professional dancers.
Notable cases of the dreaded curse include Countdown star Rachel Riley splitting from her husband before marrying professional dancer Pasha Kovalev in 2019.
Stacey Dooley also left her partner Sam Tucknott and later had a child with professional dancer Kevin Clifton. Elsewhere, comedian Seann Walsh was brutally dumped after being caught kissing his professional dance partner, Katya Jones.
Chris joins a cast which includes Vicky Pattison and Dani Dyer(Image: PA)
Camilla is determined not to let history repeat itself in their household as friends say she wants to ensure there is unity between her and Chris’ dance partner rather than any sense of rivalry.
Away from the dancefloor, Chris and Camilla have also been dealing with a personal and terrifying challenge. Earlier this year it was revealed that the couple had been targeted by a stalker.
Addressing the situation at the time, Camilla said: “Chris and I are so grateful to the press for handling a very difficult situation with such sensitivity. It’s meant we can focus on keeping our little family safe.
“We’ve truly been overwhelmed by the kindness shown. From here, we’re choosing to move forward. This won’t define us and instead, we’ll be focusing on our family and the exciting journey ahead with Strictly.”
Chris joins a cast that includes former Love Island star Dani Dyer, TV personality Vicky Pattison, and YouTube sensation George Clarke.
The series will officially launch this weekend with the pairing-up episode, before the celebrities and their professional dancers kick off the live competition.
Cardi B testified Tuesday that she never touched, scratched or spat at a security guard who is suing her over an alleged assault by the pop star outside a Beverly Hills obstetrician’s office.
The rapper, whose real name is Belcalis Marlenis Almánzar, took the witness stand in the second day of the civil trial in an Alhambra court and vigorously denied assaulting Emani Ellis on Feb. 24, 2018. Cardi B was visiting the 5th-floor office of the obstetrician at the time and was four months pregnant with her first child.
“It was a verbal incident,” insisted Cardi B. “She didn’t hit me. I didn’t hit her. There was no touching. So, to me, it wasn’t no incident.”
The rapper did say that they went chest to chest in the hallway outside the doctor’s office, and that she called the guard a “b—” because she believed Ellis was recording her with a cellphone.
“Was there spitting?” the security guard’s lawyer, Ron Rosen, asked.
“Absolutely not,” Cardi B replied.
“Did you call her the N-word?”
“No,” the performer replied, noting that she considers herself “Afro-Caribbean.”
“Did you take a swing at her?” Rosen followed up.
“No,” replied Cardi B, who insisted it was a “verbal fight. … It did not get physical at all.”
Rosen delved into the difference between a fight and a verbal altercation, asking whether he and the pop star were then having a verbal altercation. Cardi B replied that they were debating, a statement that was greeted with laughter in the courtroom.
The lawyer countered, “We’re debating about whether you assaulted and battered Ms. Emani Ellis?”
“I guess so,” replied Cardi B. “But I didn’t touch her. She didn’t touch me.” The recording artist said there were no videos of the incident.
Ellis filed suit in 2020, alleging assault, battery and intentional infliction of emotional distress as well as negligence and false imprisonment.
Ellis, who worked as a security guard at the building where Cardi B had her medical appointment, said during testimony on Monday that she was doing her rounds when she saw the celebrity get off the elevator. She testified that she was overcome with excitement and declared, “Wow, it’s Cardi B.”
Ellis said the performer then turned to her and said, “Why the f— are you telling people you’ve seen me?” Cardi B then accused her of trying to spread news about her being at the doctor’s office, she testified.
Cardi B cursed at her, used the N-word and other slurs, called her names, threatened her job, body-shamed her and mocked her career, Ellis said. She alleged Cardi B spat on her, took a swing at her and scratched her left cheek with a 2- to 3-inch fingernail.
Cardi B said when she turned around after getting off the elevator, she heard Ellis say her name and then saw Ellis with her cellphone and said, “Why are you recording me?” The performer said the guard said, “My bad,” but continued to follow her and said she had the right to follow her.
Cardi B said that they went chest to chest and that she did curse at Ellis but that she never touched the guard, who was physically larger. When the obstetrician’s receptionist finally came out, the guard alleged the singer had hit her — something that Cardi B said never happened.
The rapper conceded she never saw proof that Ellis was recording her. She said her appointment was both sensitive and confidential; she was seeing a doctor because of concerns about her pregnancy, which wasn’t yet public.
For the second day of the trial, the rapper — who is known for her daring style choices — donned a blond showgirl hairstyle that contrasted with the black short hair she wore during the first day of testimony. Under questioning, she said they were both wigs and that she had 1-inch nail extensions.
She refused to concede that she usually wore 2- to 3-inch nails, replying that sometimes she does and sometimes she doesn’t.
It was a normal Teams meeting at the end of a busy week. Colleagues were discussing the hospital weekend plans. I was there too, nodding, half-present. My mind was elsewhere – on a message I’d sent earlier that morning to a friend in Gaza.
I glanced at my phone.
One tick.
WhatsApp users know the signs: one tick means the message was sent. Two ticks mean it was received. Two blue ticks, it was read.
For most people, it’s a minor delay. But when you’re texting a Palestinian friend in Gaza during a war, one tick carries a sense of dread.
Maybe his phone’s out of charge – normal in a place where power was cut off 20 months ago. Maybe there’s no service – Israel often cuts communication during attacks. But there’s a third possibility I don’t allow myself to think about, even though it’s the most likely outcome if you are living through a genocide.
Still one tick.
Back in the meeting. We wrap up. Plans are made and people start to think about their own weekend plans.
I glance again. Still one tick.
This is the curse of being Palestinian. Carrying the weight of your homeland, its pain, its people – while being expected to function normally, politely, professionally.
Then, I was told my Teams background was “potentially anti-Semitic.”
It was a still-life image: figs, olives, grapes, oranges, watermelon, and a few glass bottles. A quiet nod to my culture and roots. But in today’s climate, even fruit is political. Any symbol of Palestinian identity can now be interpreted as a threat.
Suddenly, I was being questioned, accused, and possibly facing disciplinary action. For a background. For being Palestinian.
Still one tick.
I felt silenced, humiliated, and exposed. How was my love for my culture, for art, for my people being twisted into something hateful? Why is my choice of virtual background more controversial than the devastating violence unfolding in real time?
This is not isolated. Many of us – Palestinians, or anyone else who cares about Palestine – are being challenged on our humanity across organisations, all driven by external pressure.
And then it happened. Two blue ticks.
My friend was alive. He messaged: they fled their home in the early hours of the morning. He carried his children, walked for hours, left everything behind. No food, no shelter. But alive.
How could I explain to him what had happened to me that day? That while he ran for his life, I was threatened with disciplinary action about a painting of fruit? That I was accused of racism for an image, while he was witnessing the destruction of entire families?
This is what it means to be Palestinian today. To constantly navigate a world that erases your humanity, silences your voice, distorts your identity. To be told your pain is political. Your joy is provocation. Your symbols are offensive.
I’ve worked in the NHS for 25 years. It’s more than a job – it’s part of who I am. And now, along with two colleagues, I’m taking legal action. Not for ourselves, but to protect the NHS from external political lobbying. To say, firmly and clearly, that our National Health Service should belong to its patients and its staff – not to those who seek to silence, intimidate or twist it into serving a toxic agenda.
What happened to me is not just unjust – it is unlawful. Speaking up against genocide is not only my moral responsibility as a human being, but also my right as a British citizen in a democratic society.
I don’t write this to compare my experience with my friend’s suffering. I write it to expose the absurdity, the cruelty, of how Palestinians are treated across the world. Whether under bombs or under suspicion, we are made to justify our existence.
It shouldn’t be this way.
Being Palestinian is not a crime. But too often, it feels like the world treats it as one.
The author is currently pursuing legal action, alongside two NHS colleagues, challenging, among other things, allegations of antisemitism.
The views expressed in this article are the author’s own and do not necessarily reflect Al Jazeera’s editorial stance.
On a day the Sparks retired the jersey of the superstar whose departure has coincided with their five-year funk, Candace Parker nearly missed her pregame news conference.
With a room full of media types eager to write that rare positive Sparks story, Parker got caught in convention traffic and was so late that the game was starting and she took just five minutes’ worth of questions.
The Candace Curse struck late.
In the fourth quarter against the Chicago Sky at Crypto.com Arena, in front of a crowd waving yellow Candace Parker T-shirts, the Sparks did something they’ve been doing in bunches since Parker skipped town after the 2020 season.
This was once a special franchise, as the classy halftime jersey retirement ceremony for Parker reminded everyone, with Lisa Leslie introducing and Parker embracing and the standing crowd a little teary.
This is now a blight of a franchise, as the surrounding 40 minutes of basketball reminded everyone, the Sparks playing hard but sorely lacking in talent, direction and any sort of playoff future.
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DODGERS
From Jack Harris: The glasses might’ve come first. But it was a light bulb moment with the swing that made the most profound change.
Just over a month into the season this year, veteran Dodgers slugger Max Muncy was in a desperate search for answers.
Through the team’s first 30 games, his batting average started with a one and his home run total was stuck on zero. His role as the team’s starting third baseman was being called into question, fueling early-season speculation that the team would need to replace him before the trade deadline. He was absorbing daily criticism from fans, while trying not to succumb to internal self-flagellation.
The 10-year veteran had gone through cold starts before. But nothing quite so frustrating as this.
The 162-game trek of the regular season is familiar to the 35-year-old Southern California native across his 12-year career. With Joe Maddon as his manager for the first half of his career, Hendricks was provided room to screw up — messing around with his mechanics and pitch arsenal — to become a top-end starting pitcher who helped the Chicago Cubs claim the 2016 World Series.
“It established a lot of confidence in me,” said Hendricks, who started more than 30 games four times in five seasons from 2015-19. “The organization handing you the ball every fifth day, having that confidence in you to give the team a chance to win. That’s how you learn.”
Learning has arrived in spades for the Angels pitching staff. The starting rotation owns a 4.22 earned-run average, fostering a crop of middle-of-the-pack pitchers that doesn’t feature a traditional ace, nor former Cy Young Award winners. (The Angels’ overall staff ERA of 4.58 ranks 24th in MLB entering Monday.)
But there’s something that makes this group stand out from the rest of the league: pitching every fifth day.
The Angels feature the only pitching staff in baseball to have their season-opening rotation — of Yusei Kikuchi, Jack Kochanowicz, José Soriano, Tyler Anderson and Hendricks — make every start of the season.
From Broderick Turner: The Lakers lost a key role player when forward Dorian Finney-Smith agreed to a deal with the Houston Rockets, but they quickly moved onward by agreeing to a deal with forward Jake LaRavia when NBA free agency opened Monday afternoon.
According to people not authorized to speak on the matter, Finney-Smith agreed to a four-year, $53-million deal with the Rockets. Finney-Smith had opted out of his $15.3-million deal with the Lakers.
The Lakers kept moving forward by getting wing player LaRavia to agree to a deal for two years and $12 million. The 6-7 LaRavia averaged 6.9 points, 3.9 rebounds, 2.4 assists and shot 47.5% from the field, 42.3% from three-point range with Memphis and Sacramento last season.
From Broderick Turner: The Clippers got the backup center they have yearned for when Brook Lopez agreed to a two-year, $18-million deal, according to people not authorized to speak publicly on the matter.
Lopez, who spent the last seven seasons with Milwaukee, averaged 13 points, 5.0 rebounds and shot 37.3% from three-point range.
From Steve Henson: Aidan Zingg, a motocross prodigy who recently signed with Kawasaki’s prestigious Team Green program, died Saturday at age 16 from injuries sustained during the Mammoth Mountain MX event in Mammoth Lakes.
During a 250cc B class race, Zingg “went down in a corner,” according to industry website Dirtbikelover.com and was run over by other bikes.
Zingg, who grew up in Hemet before his family moved to the state of Washington, won the American Motorcyclist Assn. 2024 Amateur National Championship in Supermini 2, held at Loretta Lynn’s Ranch in Hurricane Mills, Tenn. He recently qualified for the championships for a seventh consecutive year.
1859 — Amherst defeats Williams 73-32 in the first intercollegiate baseball game. The game is played by Massachusetts Rules, a wide-open form of the sport commonly known as roundball and Amherst wins by reaching the pre-established score of 65 runs. Amherst exceeds 65-run limit during a 10-run 26th inning.
1903 — Maurice Garin wins the first stage of the first Tour de France bicycle race. Garin finishes 55 seconds ahead of Emile Pagie. The first stage, from Paris to Lyon, is 467 kilometers long, and takes 17 hours and 45 minutes, riding both day and night. Only 37 riders of 60 are able to complete the day’s race.
1920 — Suzanne Lenglen of France becomes the first player to win three Wimbledon titles in one year, taking the singles, doubles and mixed doubles.
1932 — Helen Moody wins her fifth women’s singles title in six years at Wimbledon, defeating Helen Jacobs 6-3, 6-1.
1938 — Don Budge defeats Henry Austin 6-1, 6-0, 6-3 to win the men’s singles title and sweep the singles, doubles and mixed doubles titles at Wimbledon for the second straight year.
1947 — Basketball Association of America (BAA), which later became the National Basketball Association (NBA), holds its inaugural college player draft.
1951 — Beverly Hanson wins the Eastern Open by three strokes over Babe Zaharias in her first start on the LPGA Tour. Hanson is the only golfer to win a tournament in her first pro start.
1961 — Mickey Wright beats defending champion Betsy Rawls by six strokes to win the U.S. Women’s Open.
1977 — Britain’s Virginia Wade wins the singles title on the 100th anniversary of Wimbledon, defeating Betty Stove 4-6, 6-3, 6-1.
1990 — Cathy Johnston completes a wire-to-wire performance, beating Patty Sheehan by two strokes to win the LPGA du Maurier Classic.
1995 — The NBA locks out its players at 12:01 a.m., the first work stoppage in league history.
1997 — Nevada Athletic Commission suspends Mike Tyson indefinitely & withholds $20m purse for biting Evander Holyfield’s ear during their heavyweight title fight 28 June.
2007 — Cristie Kerr wins the U.S. Women’s Open by making only two bogeys over her final 45 holes. Kerr finishes at 5-under 279 for her 10th career victory.
2011 — The NBA locks out its players, a long-expected move putting the 2011-12 season in jeopardy.
2012 — Spain wins its third straight major soccer title, beating Italy 4-0 in the European Championship final in Kiev, Ukraine. The Spanish, who won the Euro 2008 title and World Cup title in 2010, posts the largest score in a Euro final.
2012 — Tiger Woods wins the AT&T National at Congressional in Bethesda, Md. for the 74th win of his career. That moves him past Jack Nicklaus into second place on the tour list, eight short of Sam Snead.
2018 — NBA super star LeBron James agrees to a 4-year $154m deal with the Lakers, moving from Cleveland Cavaliers.
2018 — Park Sung-hyun wins the PGA Women’s Championship at Kemper Lakes Golf Course in a playoff with Nasa Hataoka and Ryu So-yeon.
2018 — David Toms wins the Men’ US Senior Open at Broadmoor Golf Course by one stroke ove Miguel Angel Jimenez, Jerry Kelly and Tim Petrovic.
THIS DAY IN BASEBALL HISTORY
1910 — Comiskey Park — then known as White Sox Park — held its first major league game, with the St. Louis Browns beating Chicago 2-0.
1917 — Fred Toney of the Cincinnati Reds pitched complete-game victories in a doubleheader against the Pittsburgh Pirates. Toney threw a three-hitter in each game for 4-1 and 5-1 wins, setting a record for the fewest hits allowed in a doubleheader by a pitcher.
1920 — Walter Johnson of the Washington Senators defeated the Boston Red Sox 1-0 at Fenway Park with the season’s only no-hitter.
1925 — Hack Wilson of the New York Giants hit two home runs in the third inning of a 16-7 victory over the Philadelphia Phillies in the second game of a doubleheader. Wilson also doubled twice during the game.
1941 — Joe DiMaggio of the New York Yankees singled off Boston’s Jack Wilson in the fourth inning, tying Willie Keeler’s hitting streak of 44 games.
1951 — Bob Feller of the Indians pitched his third career no-hitter, beating the Detroit Tigers 2-1 in the first game of a doubleheader at Cleveland.
1990 — Andy Hawkins of the New York Yankees pitched the sixth no-hitter in the majors this season and the third in less than 48 hours, but lost 4-0 to the Chicago White Sox on two outfield errors in the eighth inning.
1997 — Detroit’s Bobby Higginson homered in the first inning against the New York Mets, tying a major league record by homering in four consecutive at-bats over two games. Higginson, who struck out looking in his next at-bat, became the 23rd player since 1900 to accomplish the feat and the fourth Tiger.
2009 — One run was enough for a victory for three National League teams, the first time in 33 years there were three 1-0 games in one league on the same day. The Mets, Dodgers and Reds came away with 1-0 victories. The last time there were three 1-0 games in one league was Sept. 1, 1976, in the NL.
2009 — Hanley Ramirez extended his RBI streak to 10 games in the Florida Marlins’ 5-3 victory over the Washington Nationals. Ramirez hit a two-run double in the third inning to become the first shortstop in NL history with an RBI streak of double-digit games.
2013 — Andy Pettitte passes Whitey Ford for the most strikeouts in New York Yankees history when he records his 1,957th in the Yankees’ 10-4 win over the Twins. The win goes to reliever Joba Chamberlain, his first of the year, as he benefits from a three-run outburst off reliever Jared Burton in the 8th. The Yankees then add four runs in the top of the 9th as they end a five-game losing streak.
2014 — The Cleveland Indians executed an unorthodox triple play in the fourth inning against the Dodgers that required two video replay reviews to sort out. With runners on first and third, Adrian Gonzalez lifted a fly ball to left fielder Michael Brantley, who threw out Dee Gordon at the plate. Catcher Yan Gomes then fired to second baseman Jason Kipnis for the tag on Yasiel Puig as he slid headfirst. Cleveland manager Terry Francona challenged the original safe call at second and got the play overturned after a replay delay that lasted 1 minute, 29 seconds. Dodgers skipper Don Mattingly then challenged the call at the plate, but that call stood after another wait of 1 minute, 34 seconds. Cleveland went on to a 10-3 win.
2015 — Carlos Carrasco came within one strike of throwing the Cleveland Indians’ first no-hitter since 1981, giving up an RBI single to Joey Butler over leaping second baseman Jason Kipnis’ glove in an 8-1 victory over the Tampa Bay Rays.
2019 — Angels pitcher Tyler Skaggs is found dead in his hotel room a few hour before the team’s scheduled game with the Texas Rangers. Police confirm that no foul play is suspected.
Compiled by the Associated Press
Until next time…
That concludes today’s newsletter. If you have any feedback, ideas for improvement or things you’d like to see, email me at [email protected]. To get this newsletter in your inbox, click here.
On a day the Sparks retired the jersey of the superstar whose departure has coincided with their five-year funk, Candace Parker nearly missed her pregame news conference.
With a room full of media types eager to write that rare positive Sparks story, Parker got caught in convention traffic and was so late that the game was starting and she took just five minutes’ worth of questions.
The Candace Curse struck late.
In the fourth quarter against the Chicago Sky at Crypto.com Arena, in front of a crowd waving yellow Candace Parker T-shirts, the Sparks did something they’ve been doing in bunches since Parker skipped town after the 2020 season.
A dreary Sky team missing star Kamilla Cardoso still managed to beat a Sparks team filled with Parker inspiration, winning 92-85 with a fourth-quarter rally and turning what should have been the best day of the year into the worst loss of the season.
“It’s tough,” said the Sparks’ Emma Cannon.
Tough to play, tougher to watch, this being the Sparks’ 12th loss in 17 games as they spiral toward their familiar spot in the bottom of the WNBA standings.
This was once a special franchise, as the classy halftime jersey retirement ceremony for Parker reminded everyone, with Lisa Leslie introducing and Parker embracing and the standing crowd a little teary.
This is now a blight of a franchise, as the surrounding 40 minutes of basketball reminded everyone, the Sparks playing hard but sorely lacking in talent, direction and any sort of playoff future.
In the final five of Parker’s 13 seasons here, the team went 108-50 and reached the Finals twice while winning their third championship.
In the five years since then, they are 55-110 and haven’t reached the playoffs.
If that’s not a curse, it’s a mighty powerful coincidence.
History shows that it could have been, and should have been, so much different.
Parker, a two-time MVP and seven-time All-Star, should have played her entire career here. She never should have left as a free agent. Like Leslie, she should have been a Spark forever.
The jersey of former Sparks player Candace Parker is displayed during her jersey retirement ceremony.
(Jessie Alcheh / Associated Press)
She left because of problems with then-coach Derek Fisher, because of the Penny Toler postgame-tirade controversy, because the organization had already begun its downward spiral.
If the Mark Walter-led ownership group had been paying attention, she would have stayed a Spark. If the owners put the same effort they put into running the Dodgers, the issues would have been handled and Parker would have been prioritized. She was not, and then she was gone.
“The culture was toxic…I was part of that culture and had been absorbed in that toxicity,” Parker wrote in her book, “The Can-do Mindset.”
She also left because she wanted to play near her Chicago-area hometown, and she later bolted there for Las Vegas, and won titles in both places when she should have been winning them here. Here’s guessing she would have rather won them here, as Sunday she acknowledged Los Angeles had become her home.
“L.A. isn’t just about ball,” she told the crowd during the halftime ceremony. “For me anymore, it’s now where we call home and we will forever call home. So thank you so much, I love you all, I’m so appreciative, and I can’t believe it. Thank you all. Thank you.”
One can’t blame her if she no longer recognizes her former team. The Sparks no longer have a superstar, a deep bench, a championship hope in hell.
Full disclosure: I am a Sparks honk. I’m such a fan that my daughter MC and I have partial season tickets.
Also full disclosure: When picking our seats for this season, we had a choice to sit behind either bench, so we took the ones behind the visiting bench. The visitors always have more stars, the visitors are always more fun.
Certainly, these Sparks have some shining moments. Kelsey Plum works as hard as any star in any local sport, Azurá Stevens is one of the league’s underrated forces and Dearica Hamby is solid.
But a series of lousy draft picks and a lack of an attractive infrastructure — that imaginary permanent practice facility is being built any day now! — have kept them from acquiring the sort of superstars that carry teams in crunch time, the kind of difference-makers this town deserves.
“I feel like we’re right there,” Plum told me before Sunday’s game. “We’re young, we lack depth and cohesion, those things take time, I have faith that throughout the season we’ll continue to build.”
Plum has been an outstanding addition since coming here last winter in a trade, she works harder in pregame warmups than some players during the entire game, but what she’s saying, we’ve heard before.
Candace Parker was a two-time MVP, rookie of the year and led the Sparks to the 2016 title in her 13 seasons with the team.
(Associated Press)
The latest spin is that the Sparks’ No. 2 overall draft pick Cameron Brink will make a big difference when she returns from knee surgery later this summer. But she didn’t make a huge difference early last season when she played. Their other top draft pick from last season, Rickea Jackson, scored six points Sunday and has basically been a bust.
Barring the signing of a major free agent — who wants to play on a team with no permanent home? — there’s not much help coming next year because they’ve traded their first-round pick.
So their motto should be…Waiting for JuJu?
It’s all so depressing, especially on a day that should have been so uplifting.
Before the game, new coach Lynne Roberts — her honeymoon is already over — called this a “must-win.”
Since the Candace Curse, that has meant, “About to lose.”
