"pitt basketball" and "jinx" is redundant anyway

On one hand, this is way cool: DeJuan Blair, he of the monster smile and monster game, gracing the cover of Sports Illustrated's College Basketball Preview issue. On the other hand, there's the notorious SI cover jinx, which posits that any subject gracing the cover of said magazine is doomed to endure some awful misfortune in the near future. But, really, if, like the life of kings, you're a Pitt fan, anytime before March is generally as good as it gets: A top 10 preseason ranking (SI has them No. 7 -- one of four Big East Conference teams in the Top 7), some big wins, perhaps another conference tournament title at Madison Square Garden, and then ... flop. A guaranteed early-out in the NCAA tournament. Pitt fans are accustomed to disappointment, you see. We're immune to jinxes, because the team we root for is an automatic letdown. They're guaranteed. It may even be somewhere in the academic curriculum, in fact. So let us now bask in the glory of having D-Blair on the cover, and let us crow about how good we think they're gonna be. Because deep down, we're already prepared for what's coming.