View From the Bushes

Sports fans have these interesting superstitions. It's my understanding that the most common superstition is that by viewing the game they can affect the outcome. Not that I'm a sports fan, (people arguing that my obsession with the Tour de France belies this point should realize that cycling is not a sport it's a work of art) but back when the Utah Jazz had a some chance of winning it all (if not for the cosmic misfortune of peaking at the same time as Michael Jordan) I used to occasionaly watch games, much to the dismay of all of my friends who were hardcore fans, because whenever I did the Jazz would lose (generally playing Micheal Jordan at the height of his career in a clutch game is not a recipe for success regardless of whether I'm watching ot not). Boy that last sentence was nearly faulknerian in length.

I find that now that I'm watching the Cubs try and get to the World Series for the first time in 58 years, I have the exact opposite effect. Whenever I have the time to actually watch, the Cubs seem to do well; the minute I stop watching.... Well, as anyone familiar with last night's game can tell you, the results are catastrophic. When the 8th inning rolled around, the Cubs were up 3-0 and Prior's pitching had suffocated but not murdered the Marlins. Figuring that the Cubs ought to be able to survive a couple more innings I went to a movie (Kill Bill Vol 1, capsule review: more style than substance but I reserve final judgment until I see Vol 2). When I returned late that night and sat down to see what the score was, I thought that the 8 must be a misprint, but no, the minute I walked out the door all hell broke loose.

After I found out about the fiasco (for the Cubs at least) that was the 8th inning I was reminded (as I'm sure everyone else was) of Ernest L. Thayer's classic poem Casey at the Bat, A Ballad of the Republic. From that, I went to remembering a classic episode of "Northern Exposure" in which Chris' doctoral thesis, "Casey at the Bat - an Anti-Filiopietistic Metaphor for America's Role in Post-Cold-War-Geo-Politics" is locked up in a battle between a post-modern professor and a classical professor. Until Chris finally takes the professors out to the ballfield for a re-enactment of the poem in which he strikes out the post-modern professor, and says, "That feeling you have of despair and humilation, right now, in your gut? That's what 'Casey at the Bat' is about." Words to live by...

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Ross