The Curse of Livvy Dunne

On Wednesday, July 31st, Livvy Dunne (social media star / LSU gymnast / Paul Skenes' girlfriend) shared pictures and videos of herself in Paris for the Olympics. Good for her. She has the opportunity to travel and watch some of the best athletes in the world. She shared more pictures yesterday at the Louvre Museum. Again, good for her. I'm jealous. 

While I don't know Dunne's travel schedule (that would be stalking!), let's speculate that she left the United States on Tuesday, July 30th. Why am I bringing this up? On that day, the Pirates defeated the Houston Astros 6-2, bringing their record to 55-52 and 2 games out of the final playoff spot. As I'm typing this in the early morning of Friday, August 9th, the Pirates are 56-58 and 4.5 games out of the playoffs and behind several other teams. 

The Pirates have gone 1-6 since Dunne left the country. Sure, most people will point to the bullpen for the team's downturn, but I think there is a correlation between the team's success and Dunne being in Paris. The players know that Dunne isn't watching their games being multiple time zones away. They feed on her support. Therefore, the Pirates organization needs to do everything in its power to get Dunne to return to the United States as soon as possible. Once she's back on American soil, the team will start winning again. Just like the late* George Zimmer says:

* Late of Men's Warehouse. George Zimmer is still with us. 

The photo / screenshot above are from Livvy Dunne's Instagram page.