Bad news bear

Origin of: Bad news bear

Bad news bear

A bad news bear is a person who brings bad news or bad luck, an American expression that derives from the 1976 comedy movie The Bad News Bears starring Walter Matthau and Tatum O’Neal that went on to enjoy two sequels. There was also a subsequent TV series from 1978-80 that did rather less well. The story centred on a minor league baseball team called The Bears who always seemed to have more than their share of bad luck but always triumphed in the end. These days, the expression has rather more adherents around the English-speaking world than people who saw either the movies, the TV series, or indeed are aware of the origin.