The Curse of Evan Longoria's Alleged Overconfidence and Debauchery

The above suggestion should Tampa Bay cough up the ALCS tonight in Florida doesn't quite flow as nicely as "The Curse of Steve Harvey," but you know Sox fans won't let this rumor, published by the Boston Herald and pointed out by Big League Stew, go quietly into the night:

Would you believe it if we told you that Tampa Bay Rays phenom Evan Longoria didn’t exactly endear himself to the locals while out on the town in Boston last week??? During a champagne-soaked time at District after Game 4, the Rays’ hot corner man was suffering from a sorry case of premature celebration.

Seems that after the Rays humiliated the Sox for the second night in a row, Evan was yelling to anyone who would listen: “It’s over now, Boston!” [...] And upon exiting the rockin’ club with a star-struck blonde, a spywitness swears that Longoria poured himself into the back seat of a Boston Police cruiser and said to the cop: “To my hotel!”

This would be lovely if, you know, the series was over. But it's not. Confidence now looks like cockiness. And Saturday's Game 6 win for Boston seems ever more like a microcosm for the ALCS as a whole: Tampa gets off to a quick start (with B.J. Upton's first inning, untelevised solo shot) but fades away. Only the Rays -- or Harvey, I suppose -- can reverse the narrative.

This post originally appeared on the Sporting Blog. For more, see The Sporting Blog Archives.