Because I have seen so little baseball this season, I don’t realize that CC Sabathia is in the middle of attempting a no-hitter (or, as it were at the time, perfect game) until I casually check Twitter and see someone say something about the P-word.
As soon as I see it, my stomach lurches.
I’m not a baseball player, manager or broadcaster, but I believe, with all my being, as if I were a member of that fraternity, in the power of the Jinx.
I know, I know, it’s been disproven time and again: the Jinx is not really a Jinx. When he was pitching his perfecto, David Cone would be in the clubhouse in the bottom half of the innings and heard Michael Kay talk, ad naseum, about said achievement.
So why do I find myself screaming my head off (in front of some very bewildered family) when Joe Buck says “CC Sabathia is pitching a No Hitter”? Why do I buy into a superstition when I don’t adhere to most other ones?
I know, of course, that I can’t control whatever action happens on the field. If I get too involved, I’m accused of living my life vicariously through the athletes who are playing the game. I should be able to talk about the Perfect Game and the No Hitter all I want, but I feel dirty even if I call my brother to tell him he should probably turn the TV on right about now, if he wants to see something special.
Why this jinx, though?
Why does this one have so much sway?
The reason could be pretty simple, basic psychology: we so enjoy seeing the unusual, the record-breaking, the extreme accomplishments, that we want to do something, anything in our power to make it happen.
Since we can’t be on the field ourselves, pitching the baseball or calling the game, we resort to something much less tangible–our superstition.
So, someday, another pitcher will throw a no-hitter or a perfect game–just don’t expect me to say anything until after it’s long done.
Original Story:
http://www.puristbleedspinstripes.com...
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