albatross

albatross \AL-buh-traws; AL-buh-tros\, noun:

1. Any of several large, web-footed sea birds of the family Diomedeidae that have the ability to remain aloft for long periods.
2. A seemingly inescapable moral or emotional burden, as of guilt or responsibility.
3. Something burdensome that impedes action or progress.

The pressure is hardly off. It's just as much pressure as it has been, it's just without the albatross of bankruptcy hanging over it.
-- Robert Mann

That's something that's going to be an albatross for us throughout the remainder of the year. What do you do? How do you fix it? It's going to be an issue but we've got to get better in other areas so it's not the issue that's going to cost us games.
-- Andy Kennedy

They thought they were putting an albatross around my neck. Little did they know they were building me a life raft.
-- Ken Blackwell

Albatross originated around 1675–85 as probably an alteration (influenced by Latin albus, white) of alcatras, pelican and from Portuguese or Spanish alcatraz.