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Reader question: Please explain “bad karma” in the following passage: Wenger’s comments about tonight’s young Norwegian referee, who he says is not accustomed to dirty tricks in the top leagues, smacks of desperation…. But to say that before a game is bad karma. And bad manners. My comments: Certainly bad manners, that is, impolite. Wenger, Arsene Wenger, that is, the Arsenal football club manager of the English Premier League. He called out the referee just prior a match, never mind which. Given the context, however, we may more or less accurately infer that he did so to gain an unfair advantage – by manipulating the referee. He tried to suggest that the opponents his team is to play against are all cunning pros who will resort to cheating in order to win the game and that the Norwegian referee, being young, may be too inexperienced to see through all their tricks. What Wenger says may well be the case, pros being pros but, as the writer points out here, saying so just before a match is bad karma. In other words, it’s inauspicious. Plainly put, criticizing a referee before a match may produce the opposite effect. The man may read the paper, see the unflattering comment and feel offended. Hence, in consequence, he may go into the match holding a personal grudge against Arsenal instead. This is pure conjecture, of course. There is always a chance that professional referees in European football are all above holding personal grudges such as that. They won’t, hopefully, misjudge a match in order to settle a personal score at the expense of fair play and other lofty professional ethics. | 
