A Local Butcher's Plan To Beat The Cubs Curse: 'Kill The F-ing Goat'

By Stephen Gossett in News on Oct 6, 2016 2:46PM

Getty Images / Photo: Justin Sullivan

Cubs fans have sought to exorcise the Curse of the Billy Goat for decades now, but with expectations sky-high for the postseason, a local butcher and a Illinois farm have had it with diplomatic measures: they’ve turned the cursed animal into sausage, and they’ll be passing it out on Friday, outside Wrigley Field, as the team kickstarts its playoff push.

There’s a long tradition of brining a goat to the stadium, for opening days and playoff games, in hopes of shaking the baseball demons. But Robert Poe, manger of butcher/meat shop Carnivore Oak Park, thinks that more extraordinary—and savory—means than we’ve seen in the past might be necessary.

“They’ve been brining a live goat, and it hasn’t worked. So we decided to kill the fucking goat,” Poe told Chicagoist.

Carnivore is processing the sacrificial animal into traditional Merguez sausage, a North African dish. Poe and associates will share the links outside Wrigley, at 7 p.m. on Friday, and lead a “ceremonial dance” to help eradicate the jinx, because why not? You'll know them by their dress: "We'll be in our butchers’ uniforms and bloody aprons."

Despite being a native South Sider, Poe is a lifelong Cubs fan, and he’s never felt better about his team’s odds than now. “I got my first Cubs hat when I was three or four,” he said. “This is the year. It’s always ‘the year,’ but this year is different.”

It should be a delicious ritual, too. The goat comes courtesy of Kilgus Farmstead, suppliers to famed meat emporium Girl & the Goat, among many others.

If you’ve somehow managed to make it this far without becoming familiar with the Curse, legend has it that the spell was cast in 1945 when Billy Goat Tavern owner Billy Sianis was tossed out of a World Series contest because of his stinky pet. But if events go according to Carnivore's plan, that will all be meaningless history soon.