the thought of the curse comes from the Red Sox winning the 1918 World Series, their 5th in a short franchise history, they dominated the big leagues from 1912-1918, Then they sold Babe Ruth, then a pitcher, to the New York Yankees. He became the home run hitter with the Yanks, they own 26 World Series before we won another one. The term was not that popular until Boston Globe Columnist Dan Shaughnessy wrote a book about it
If we just sucked the whole time it would not be a big deal. We lost painfully, Bucky Dent, Bill Buckner, the Big Red Machine, etc., etc. those are just the headliners.