gnomi | Of Baseball and Rituals

There's a lot of talk this morning about baseball, rituals, and those crazy things fans do to help ensure their teams' wins in big games. I have a baseball-related ritual, but it doesn't really have anything to do with my team's chances. In fact, it started when my team's wins were few and far between.

I first met

donovanstitch in 1992, while we were both students at BU. A fellow baseball fan,

donovanstitch had the dubious pleasure of living within screaming distance of Fenway, and here he was, a Yankees fan.

For reasons that I can no longer remember, at the end of the sixth game of the 1996 World Series, I picked up the phone and called

donovanstitch to wish him congratulations on his team's win. I made an identical phone call at the end of game 4 of 1998, and a tradition was born. As the Yankees took the World Series in 1998, 1999, and 2000, I called

donovanstitch at the end of the final game to wish him congratulations.

In 2004, at the end of game 4, as I was sitting there in shock that the Sox had actually managed to win a World Series, the phone rang. This time, it was

donovanstitch calling to wish *me* congratulations.

Fast forward to last Wednesday night. As

mabfan and I are getting ready to settle in to watch game 1 of the World Series,

mabfan picks up the phone and calls

donovanstitch, leaving a message when he wasn't home. Somewhere around the 3rd inning or so, the phone rings, and it's

donovanstitch. Despite it not fitting our usual pattern, we talk baseball for about 1/2 an hour (until

mabfan got a call on the other line that I couldn't defer). I was, to be honest, a bit nervous as to whether varying our ritual would cause a rift in the space-time continuum and mess up the Sox' chances in the Series (what can I say? I'm a Sox fan born and bred; we're a superstitious bunch). The Sox ended up winning games 1-3. And then we got to last night.

And last night's game was a real nailbiter. And it went long. I kept wondering if I should go to bed, but I stuck it out. It was 12:06 AM when the Sox got the last out. I quickly posted and then began the process of getting ready to go to bed. And then the phone rang. I knew who it had to be. And I was right.

donovanstitch knew I'd be up, he knew I'd be watching, and I was very pleased that he took the time to call and complete the ritual.

And, next year, who knows. I might be the one placing the end-of-Series call.