Curse Desk · Method

Disclosed instruments. Permanent records.

The Desk begins with public records and asks what they can support. Its methods cover unusual events and historical droughts, using published rules and comparisons suited to each question.

A finding must show its sources, how it was reached and where the evidence runs out. The work claims neither inside access nor an explanation for how a curse might operate.

Core principles

Public-record sourcing — Every finding is grounded in public records and cited sources. The Desk holds zero credentials and claims no insider access.
Disclosed methods and limitations — Research designs, instrument rubrics, formulas, and known limitations are published openly rather than kept internal.
Appropriate controls — Each instrument incorporates controls suited to its structure: league-wide mechanical comparison and frozen public records for the Misery Index; blind evaluation panels, baseline events, and pre-scoring rubric freezes for Explanation Burden.
Null findings — Negative results and unverified claims remain on the record. In the Detroit investigation, a completed season with no qualifying event closes as a published null without consuming a Case number.
Visible corrections and permanent records — No published record is silently deleted or altered; corrections, withdrawals, and changed limitations remain visible on the permanent record.

Instruments

Judged

Explanation Burden

Explanation Burden asks how much explanation an event requires. It combines Mechanism Complexity and Closure Deficit, each scored from 0 to 5, for a total out of 10. Raters work blind, using a rubric fixed before scoring and baseline events for comparison. The score measures explanatory difficulty; it does not measure suffering, team quality or fan sentiment.

Explanation Burden is one instrument within Method, the Desk’s broader research practice. The full Pilot A application, scoring definitions and case scores are on Same Old timeLions.

View Explanation Burden on Same Old timeLions →

Computed

Misery Index v3

The Misery Index applies one rule set to outcome drought across all 32 franchises. Legacy Burden contributes up to 60 points and Current Suffering up to 40. Every franchise is calculated from the same frozen public records and rules, without case-by-case scoring decisions. The choice of those rules and weights remains a disclosed judgment.

Open Misery Index v3 →

What these measures can tell us

The Misery Index measures outcome drought across all 32 franchises; Explanation Burden measures explanatory difficulty in discrete events. Neither instrument proves the other. Neither instrument explains a supernatural mechanism.

The 0–16 Turn is an investigation-specific historical periodisation published on Same Old timeLions, not a league-wide metric and not a result produced by either instrument.