(CNN) — Abstain from laundry until after the Chiefs clinch the win. Lock yourself in the bathroom during the entire game, if you feel it’s best for the team.
And whatever you do, don’t let Charles Penn into Arrowhead Stadium.
Poor Penn, known among Kansas City Chiefs fans as “Bad Luck Chuck,” has been unofficially banned from future Chiefs games by superstitious fans — and star quarterback Patrick Mahomes — who worry his presence could forebode a loss.
It started as an inside joke among Penn’s friends but ballooned into a franchise-wide phenomenon when he tweeted a video of himself, decked out in Chiefs gear, leaving the stadium after the first quarter of a January 12 playoff game. At that point, the Houston Texans were beating his Chiefs, 21-0.
“It might be true, man,” Penn said in the video, wondering aloud if his attendance was responsible for the team’s poor performance. “We’ve got to come back somehow, so I’m out.”
“I’ve never believed in jinxes or anything like that,” he told CNN later. “It was just a desperate move on my end.”
In the next quarter the Chiefs roared back with 28 points, winning 51-31.
Perhaps his selfless sacrifice worked.
Penn also sat out Sunday’s playoff game against the Tennessee Titans — at the Chiefs’ request. And, lo and behold, his team is headed to the Super Bowl.
A painful losing streak
Penn, 31, is a Kansas City native and lifelong Chiefs fan. And yet the Chiefs have lost every playoff game he’s attended in devastating fashion.
His losing streak started in 2013, when he gathered with a few friends to watch the Chiefs play the Indianapolis Colts in a wild card game. The Colts edged the Chiefs, and Penn was banned from attending future viewing parties with the same group.
“If I showed up last to the watch party, they’re putting the blame on me,” he said.
He attended his first-ever playoff game in 2017. The Chiefs fell to the Pittsburgh Steelers by a measly two points.
A few more heartbreakingly close playoff losses later, Penn felt confident enough to return to Arrowhead this season. After all, the Chiefs were 12-4 and looking good.
“I wanted to see my first win in person,” he said.
Then the game began, and Houston began pummeling his team. When the first quarter ended, Penn said he got desperate.
“‘Maybe it’s not the Chiefs — it’s me,'” he remembered thinking before he filmed the viral clip. “I decided to go ahead and leave. And as soon as I leave, the Chiefs finally scored and went on this miraculous run.”
Patrick Mahomes saw the video after the big win and told reporters he wanted the guy in the video to stay home.
The Chiefs doubled down on Mahomes’ plea, setting Penn up with a Head and Shoulders-sponsored watch party — at home — and free team merch as if to say, “Will this make up for missing out on a potential championship season in person?”
But Penn harbors no ill will.
“It’s funny to me, going along with this thing,” he said.
So what about the Super Bowl?
But Chiefs fans better believe if Penn gets offered a ticket to Super Bowl LIV, where the Chiefs will face the San Francisco 49ers, he’ll be there.
Even if he can’t get into the game, he’s got to be in Miami for the atmosphere, he said.
“I’ve got to experience it first,” he said. “[Chiefs fans] are iffy on me attending the game — they want me away from the stadium. But guys, this is a once-in-a-lifetime moment. I’ve never seen our team play in the Super Bowl. I’ve at least got to be in Miami.”
Still, he admitted, it’s mostly 49ers fans who want him there — to see if his jinx really does work.
