Is There a Page 2 Curse?

I was shocked and saddened this morning to hear that David Halberstam passed away yesterday in a car crash. When he started writing for Page 2 in 2001, I had no idea who he was, but I quickly learned that he was one of the most talented and interesting journalists anywhere.

I realized that he is the third current or former Page 2 author to pass away in the past three years. Ralph Wiley died in 2004, Hunter S. Thompson in 2005, and now David Halberstam. Is there a Page 2 curse? This seems much more serious than the vaunted SI Cover Jinx. There haven't been that many Page 2 writers in its 6 year history, so for 3 of them to die in 3 years seems very unlikely.

Maybe Simmons should have taken that offer from Sports Illustrated.