There are two poets in Bengal whose talent is considered above all other poets: Rabindranath Tagore and Kazi Nazrul Islam. Now, with full awareness of the absurdity involved, one may have to add a third name in the footnotes: MD Ahnaf Hussain.Hussain, a New Yorker of Bangladeshi descent, became a social media sensation after his slogan: “My mayor is Muslim, my bagels are Jewish, my Christian Dior, Nicks in four.” Now this is no Gitanjali or Bidrohi, but it has certainly united New Yorkers and, by extension, all members of the global system who feel they already live in New York because they have memorized every Friends and How I Met Your Mother episode.Except it didn’t make the Knicks win four, superstitious sports fans blamed Donald Trump’s presence at Madison Square Garden for Game 3, so the mantra had to be updated: “My mayor is still Muslim, my bagel is still Jewish. The Pope is on our side, Knicks in five.”Now, while this may seem like poetic license, the first American Pope was spotted giving a thumbs-up as a fan yelled: “Pope Leo, go Knicks.” Pope, who shares an alma mater with three members of the current Knicks line-up, also signed a jersey for Knicks superfan Spike Lee with “Pope Leo” written on the back, leading some to wonder if the Knicks had received divine assistance, especially since the miraculous 29-point comeback in Game 4 of the Finals.But now the talk has turned to another kind of sports superstition: the Mamdani effect. While the Mamdani effect may seem like promoting progressive causes since the election of New York’s first Muslim mayor, it is actually what The Athletic called the Zoharan Mamdani Sports Summer, when two of his teams, Arsenal and the Knicks, ended historic trophy droughts.Arsenal last won the league in 2004, the Knicks last won the NBA in 1973, and even this joke correlation was too much for Fox News, which wrote: “Then, you would think that the credit for the accomplishments of these teams would go to the players, coaches, front and office staff. “But that would imply a level of awareness and rationality that many in left-wing sports media organizations do not possess.”While one can see why Fox would be upset, especially since the only game the Knicks lost was when Donald Trump was in attendance, and it is this octogenarian’s biggest frustration that the town he grew up in never accepted him, the Mamdani Effect has become a talking point for sports fans. In strict, non-scientific terms, the notion that a socialist mayor of New York could, by supporting just one team, reverse decades of sports misery. This is obviously nonsense, which is why sports fans would believe it.The young mayor has certainly joined in, wearing an Arsenal-themed full kurta for Eid and telling people who have come up to him saying he is Muslim that “it’s true”.Now sports fans have always believed in some bizarre superstitions over the years, yours included.It is believed that cricket fans get completely emotional when Sachin Tendulkar or Virat Kohli are batting and would rather run to the toilet and risk a bladder infection. At the World Cup, the Democratic Republic of Congo have taken on a superfan who they believe has the superpower to prevent goals through his posture of standing still like a human statue for 90 minutes with his arms raised in tribute to Congolese leader Patrice Lumumba.Meanwhile, some believe that Italy’s inability to reach the World Cup again is indicative of the “Sarajevo curse”, a reference to a dark moment in the country’s history where Italian tourists reportedly signed up for “sniper safaris” to shoot innocent people during the war in the 1990s. Incidentally, in 2026, Italy lost to Bosnia and Herzegovina on penalties.There is also the Nike World Cup curse, where a popular advertisement featuring the top stars of the time featured many of them flopping. Didier Drogba broke his hand, Wayne Rooney’s England flopped, Ronaldinho failed to even make the tournament and Fabio Cannavaro’s reigning world champions Italy were eliminated in the group stage. Across the Atlantic, the Madden curse became America’s great video-game theology: Put an NFL star on the cover and wait for his season to end.But all this brings us back to Mamdani’s summer, and it would really be the icing on the cake if his team wins. No, not USA, whom it is losing to England in the quarter-finals. He has backed Morocco to win the World Cup by defeating France in the final. If that indeed happens, and Africa gets its first World Cup winner, even the most scientific minds will find it difficult to argue against the Mamdani effect.