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Reverse the curse Man climbs Everest, tries to break Curse of the Bambino
BOSTON (AP) -- On the advice of a Tibetan holy man, a lifelong Red Sox fan placed a team cap on the top of Mount Everest. Paul Giorgio figured he had to try something. His team has been without a World Series title since 1918, and Giorgio sought to break the infamous Curse of the Bambino that has shadowed the Red Sox since they sold Babe Ruth to the Yankees in 1920. For good measure, Giorgio also burned a New York Yankees cap on the summit last month. So far it's working. The Red Sox are in first place in the American League East. Giorgio, a 37-year-old real estate investor, is a serious climber who was on the team that found Sir Edmund Hillary's highest camp from his 1953 ascent. The two team caps were part of his 250 pounds of gear.
"At base camp, every team gets its gear blessed by the lama," Giorgio told The Boston Globe. "So I brought out the hats and asked the lama how I might break the Curse of the Bambino. I explained that it had to do with an American baseball team that hadn't won a championship since 1918. And the lama smiled and seemed to nod, as if he understood what I was talking about. Although who knows?" The lama told Giorgio to place the Sox cap next to a stone altar where each climbing team burns juniper branches as an offering to the gods. Then he told Giorgio to carry the Red Sox cap to the summit and plant it at 29,028 feet to reverse the curse. After some scary moments -- Giorgio caught two climbers as they were in near free fall down the mountain -- he reached the summit on May 23. He planted the Red Sox cap with an American flag. At base camp two days later, he took the Yankees cap to the altar to burn it, and complete the cycle. It wouldn't catch fire at first. "Fortunately, I found some kerosene," he said.
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