There was a Bud Light campaign a few years back called “It’s Only Weird If It Doesn’t Work” about superstitious NFL fans. I think I remember one about a guy staying in the basement, not watching the game, so his team could score.

Soccer, however, is not a sport of superstition. I don’t really have any rituals for games. What I have is a supernatural power that effects the outcomes of games. I am in possession of The Jersey Curse.

If I wear a national team’s jersey, they will lose. In fact, if I wear a baseball team’s hat, they will lose. During the 2016 World Series, my friend bought me a Cleveland Indians hat that delivered the Chicago Cubs their first World Series title since 1908. I use my powers for good.

The boundaries of my curse powers have yet to be completely tested. I wear my Tottenham Hotspur jersey for each game (for the purposes of research I have alternated scarf and jersey, the results are inconclusive) and they still finished third this year. I wear my Mets hat all the time and while the Mets are a losing machine at the moment, the donning of my cap seems to be irrelevant. And the biggest blow to the theory was the 2016 Euros in which I wore a Portugal jersey and Portugal won anyway.

And yet, the anecdotal evidence doesn’t lie. I discovered the curse in the 2014 World Cup, though, perhaps it was earlier than that. With my somewhat large collection of jerseys (for further reading, please consult All of My Damn Jerseys), I was able to support several teams like The Netherlands and Croatia in addition to my perennial favorites England and the United States. I would post a picture of myself in the jersey and, inevitably, the team would collapse.

Soon people started asking what I was wearing during a game or outright requesting wardrobe changes. “Dude, I’ll chip in for a Portugal jersey.” “You stay away from Germany’s jersey. Don’t even wear white while they’re playing.”

For this World Cup, which is only sixteen days away, I decided to add to my jersey collection. My England and Belgium jerseys came in the mail today. I will always support England because of my dad and my earliest soccer allegiances (I got the away jersey which is red and has St. George’s cross and is far cooler than the plain white home jersey). I’m also supporting Belgium because they have a team of great players, several of whom play for (or have played for) Spurs. It’s also just got a cool argyle design.

For the sake of science, I will also be supporting Iceland, sans jersey. We’ll see how that will effect their run as a control in the experiment. Does my intention curse teams? Or must I be wearing the jersey?

Much like “It’s Only Weird If It Doesn’t Work” the jersey curse “Only Works If You Believe In It.” There are times I believe in it and there are times when I don’t. There are times when I relish my power and times when I resent it.

And let’s be honest, if England loses… sorry, when England loses, my conscience will be pretty clean.