KANSAS CITY, Mo. (WDAF) – All this talk about potential parades and victories, it’s enough to make Chiefs Kingdom worried about a jinx.
Superstitious? Well, Nexstar’s Kansas City-based WDAF can fight fire with fire and give some pushback on that, courtesy of the moon itself. There’s a pretty positive trend coming from our friend in orbit.
It was pointed out by a sports fan named Jay Cuda who started tracking this sort of thing a while back when he noticed the White Sox were on 7-game losing streak while playing under a full moon.
For Super Bowl LVIII, Cuda put out that the teams will be playing under the moon’s “Waxing Crescent” phase, and the Chiefs have actually won 19 of the last 20 games under that condition.
A full lunar cycle is 28 days, so what exactly is this phase slated for the Super Bowl coming after the dark new moon?
For answers, we turned to Maddy Philipp, an educator at the Arvin Gottlieb Planetarium.
“When I was like in the sixth grade I remember one of my teachers taught us wax on and then wane off,” Philipp said.
“When it’s in that waxing crescent we’re kind of seeing like the ‘toenail’ moon. So just a little sliver of it,” Phillip said.
“The reason we see those phases is we are seeing the day and night cycle of the moon,” she said.
The phase, perhaps wouldn’t be notable had the Chiefs not had their hot streak under it. To astrophysicists it still might not indicate much.
But to Cindy McKean, owner of Kansas City Astrology & Tarot, there is meaning in the growing moonlight.
“And we’re finally starting to see it building up. So that means it’s brand new energy. It’s almost young energy. It’s a fresh start. So it makes total sense that during the waxing crescent moon phase that they would have growth, renewal, self-improvement. And it works with their team and their incorporation date with the team anyway,” McKean said.
For Kansas City Chiefs fan David Leach, the waxing crescent moon doesn’t mean too much to him. Instead he’s thinking about a bet between friends leading to some good luck.
“It was if we ever draft a franchise quarterback I will get him tattooed on my wherever you guys want it. We cheers on it. We drafted Patrick Mahomes that day,” Leach said, showing off the tattoo on his lower back.
“I’ve been single for two years but it’s a rule that when I do start talking to someone that it’s kind of the upfront thing. Because the worst thing that you want is that person to find out in the wrong setting, if you know what I mean,” Leach said.
Here’s another superstition: remember earlier in the season when Mahomes shared that since his first season he had a special pair of game day underwear that his wife bought him. He said he didn’t wash them if the team was on a hot streak so they’re probably pretty ripe these days.
This story originally aired on FOX 4 News on the moon phase and its effects on the Super Bowl Superstitions on February 1 & 2, 2024 on the 6 PM, 10 PM, 11 PM, and morning broadcasts. You can find the article and full video here: https://fox4kc.com/sports/the-big-game/lunar-super-bowl-stats-chiefs-see-success-under-waxing-crescent-moons-2/ Special thanks to Reporter Jacob Kittilstad, and the rest of the FOX4 team.