The Chicago Cubs won their 10,000th game on Wednesday night, but millions of fans will tell you that the franchise is cursed. And the reason for that curse? Because Cubs fan Billy Sianis placed a hex on the franchise after he and his pet goat were ejected from Wrigley Field during Game 4 of the 1945 World Series. The Cubs have clearly won a lot of games since that season, but have never returned to the Fall Classic.

Of course, the Boston Red Sox faithful were convinced their franchise was cursed because the organization sold Babe Ruth to the hated New York Yankees in 1920. But when Boston won the World Series in 2004, it was evident that the Curse of the Bambino had been lifted.

Last week, a construction worker tried to bury a David Ortiz jersey in the foundation of the new Yankee Stadium. When co-workers found out what he was doing, they spent hours digging it out for fear that the stadium would be cursed if the jersey remained. After it was retrieved, the shirt was auctioned off for $175,000 to benefit the Jimmy Fund.

Those are just two of the more famous curses we have in sports. There's also the Curse of the Coin Flip, the Sports Illustrated Curse and most recently, the Madden Curse. But along with curses come superstitions - rational people know that these things don't affect what happens on the fields of play, yet they still believe in the power of the supposedly supernatural.

When I was playing little league baseball, I once kissed my bat before stepping to the plate. I hit a homerun that at-bat, and thought that my smooch had made the difference. Practically speaking, the homerun was more likely a result of my outlandishly large 12-year-old body, but the kiss was the superstition I needed.

I proceeded to kiss my bat before each time at the dish and then went through a stage where I kissed my bat before each pitch. My father told me to cut it out, and I began reserving my bat kisses for only the most crucial at-bats for the rest of my career.

What is it about sports that make us believe in curses and superstitions? If you played sports, were you superstitious? What kinds of things did you do for good luck?