Tuesday, November 4, 2008

17 of 18

Do you have any kind of superstitions? I ask because of the fact that it seems that nearly everyone has some kind of superstition about something.

In baseball, there are pitchers who refuse to step on the chalk baselines headed to and from the mound. Guys wear the same cap for months on end without washing it, or will always eat the exact same foods on the day of a game, sleep in the same shorts, use the same blankets or lay the same way when they go to bed. At the University of Maryland they touch a statue of a turtle before they take the field for a football game; at Clemson University it is a rock as the take the field, and at Notre Dame they tap the "Play Like a Champion Today" sign on the way out of the locker room.

Fans will do the same kinds of things. We eat certain meals at games and sit in particular chairs; we don't shave and we wear our "lucky" jerseys to watch. We do all of this with the idea in mind that it some how effects the cosmos and helps our team to perform better. If it makes you feel better than by all means, go for it.

I bring all this up for a reason though. With this being election day, I got to thinking about a couple of things that I had heard concerning superstitions with this election. There was a Democratic campaign manager I believe in Ohio who has made sure to wear the same baseball cap and had not shaved in a few weeks since it seemed that Obama had a strong showing in the state which was different from the last two elections.

The biggest one that I have heard as of late has to do with the Washington Redskins. It seems that with the last 18 elections, when the Redskins have played a home game the Sunday before, you could determine the winner of the election by how the game turned out. In 17 of the last 18 if the Redskins won then, the party that was in the White House stayed in the White House; if they lost then the party not in the White House won. Well, the Redskins had a home game last night, the night before the election, and they lost. So according to the superstition, the Democratic Party should be on the winning end. Now, I can't say that this is something that is fool proof, after all there is one discrepancy in that record. So take it for what it's worth. Peace and Love y'all.

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