Commentators’ curse

This is the often-witnessed phenomenon where a TV sports commentator talks up the prowess and skill of a sportsperson, only for that same sportsperson to make an elementary beginner’s error a few seconds later. It seems to occur more often during cricket matches, probably because so many things can suddenly go awry in this somewhat complex sport. It is not known who actually coined the phrase or when exactly, but it obviously originated during the television era. The phenomenon it describes must have occurred several times before it stuck as a phrase; therefore, an educated guess would date it from the 1960s onwards. See Mockers, Jinx, Hoodoo.