When Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger drove his face into an innocent windshield this week, those in the know exchanged a grim, knowing nod. Reggie White. Donovan McNabb. Terrell Davis. Kurt Warner. Brian Urlacher. Michael Strahan. And now Roethlisberger, who was released from a Pittsburgh hospital late Wednesday. Each tasted soup and then tasted ruin. Or at least a persistent hamstring injury. It’s “The Chunky Soup Curse!” The Curse was discovered in 2002 by Dan Lewis, a New York attorney, freelance sportswriter and dedicated blogger, who noticed that those who endorse Campbell’s Chunky Soup sooner or later encounter great woe. The only pitchmen as of yet to escape (mostly) unscathed are John Lynch and Jerome Bettis. Lewis believes a cataclysm of negative karmic forces spawned an enduring curse because the original ads featured imposter mothers–actresses.
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