Now I’m sure many of you have heard of the 'Commentator’s Curse' before, but do we have as much power as the guys (and girls) in the booth?

I reckon I do and let me explain why; The Melbourne Cup (Australia’s biggest horse race that happens on the second Tuesday of November every year).

My record of picking the winner since 1988 stands at 2 wins from 19 attempts…that’s rather pitiful and the sole reason why I haven’t slapped $5 on the race since 2002. On the plus side, I am due this year since my wins came in 1993 and 2000…a seven year itch by the looks of it.

Pocono; Denny Hamlin won, no, dominated that track in season 2006, scoring the pole and win in both starts there. Now I saved up a ‘Denny’ in my foxsports fantasy picks just for last week (and also picked him in Williamwilman’s trifecta)…and what happened? Bloody rain! I tell you I was looking real good over the first 50 odd laps before it all went pair shaped as Steve Letarte used up his ‘phone a friend’ and snatched it from under my nose.

"Lock in 'C' thanks; rain after the #99 pits and the #11 is behind us!"

What about season 2006? My favourite driver is Kasey Kahne who was pretty much untouchable about a third of the way through the year. I had decided to take a 6 week holiday around this time last year which allowed me to go to the race at Sonoma...from that point on, Kasey's season plummeted downhill at a great rate of knots and only a win and a third in the last few races managed to get him into the Chase. Sorry Kasey, I accept full responsibility for ruining your chances of the title.

How about some more "fan" proof? Take my fellow racing nut, photogr; he’s picked Jimmie Johnson in the last two races of Will's trifecta and has managed to completely destroy Jimmie’s momentum after a blown tyre and a crash…we shall see if Jeff Gordan suffers the same fate this weekend.

Now I’ll admit, sometimes you manage to hit on the perfect combination…I went with Sam Hornish to win last week in the IRL race and he did, while photogr cancelled out Jimmie’s performance  by going with the rookie sensation, Lewis Hamilton, who collected his maiden win in the Canadian GP. But that doesn't make for good reading so I'm not going down that road.

I shall now indulge everyone on the two best cases I’ve heard of the dreaded Curse, one by commentators and the other by a fan. One occurred just under a month ago in a Rugby League game played in Brisbane, Australia. One player managed to charge down a kick, pick up the ball, put a little kick over the top of the defence, re-gather and dive across the line right as the halftime siren went off.

What’s so bad about that you might think? Quite rightly too since it was a spectacular piece of skill to watch.

Well, midway through the second half, after receiving the praise from all the commentators, he threw a desperate pass to a teammate on his own goal line which was intercepted by an opposing player who scored the easiest points he’ll ever get in his career.

The other time happened nearly four years ago in the Rugby Union World Cup semi-final between New Zealand and Australia. I was watching it with my coworkers down at the bar and a guy shouted out "why doesn't he throw the ball out wide to the fast guys?!"

Thankfully, the NZ player was listening and did just that moments later...only for the pass to be picked off and an Aussie player raced 80 odd yards to touch down at the other end.

Now all the talk about people who will never support Dale Jr since he’s gone to Hendrick Motorsports has me thinking…that could very well be exactly what Jr needs since there are more of us fans than there are commentators.

If I was a betting man, I’d be heading down to the local TAB and putting a fiver on him to win his first title in 2008…but considering my record, I think I’ll keep my money through fear of jinxing the poor bloke.

"This win's for my Dad...and Tez who decided not to bet on me, thanks man!"