Luck of the Dodgers: The Cubs are going to the Series

This is probably going to sound crazy, but that's because it is. I hold the keys to Cubs victory, and it all started with a Dodgers game.

Here's what happened: I went to see the Dodgers a couple weeks ago when the Cubs were in town. I went to Friday, Saturday and Sunday games, May 25-27. The Cubs lost two of three, but managed to pull out a 4-2 win Saturday. Then they went on to lose every game for the next week. At the end of that week I'm in Chicago visiting my sisters and we go to see a game (June 3, in case you're keeping track). On the way to Wrigley, I happen to reach into the back pocket of my jeans and find the ticket from Saturday's win -- not Friday's ticket, not Sunday's, just the ticket from the last win the Cubs had for a week (Side note: please don't make any judgments about my personal grooming habits based on the fact I hadn't washed my jeans since the previous weekend). So I keep the ticket in my pocket for good luck. And the Cubs pull it off. Grand slam in the first inning, a couple more HRs, and a 10-1 victory over the 32-24 Braves. Well, that does it. I keep the ticket from that game, united with the Dodgers stub, and leave it in my pocket during Monday's game as I listen on MLB radio. The result? Another win for my Cubbies.

Now I'm thinking the ticket stubs are lucky. And they seem to work. Tuesday I mess up and forget the tickets, so the Cubs lose, but I remember for the rest of the week and the Cubs win Wednesday, Thursday and Friday. Saturday the tickets are in place, but the Cubs lose anyway. I'm confused until I realize there was another piece of paper in my pocket, which must have been interrupting the good karma from my lucky tickets. I take care of that immediately.

Now I'm questioning the magic, so Sunday I decide to experiment (because this stuff has to be scientific), and leave the tickets sitting on my desk. The Cubbies go up 4-0, but manage to throw away victory (in this case literally, as the Braves score the winning run on a wild pitch).

That's all the convincing I need. In college my friend (an A's fan) hadn't checked his e-mail a few days into an Oakland winning streak. He didn't check his e-mail again, and the A's won 22 straight. Three weeks without e-mail in exchange for 22 victories seems like a good trade to me. Wearing jeans with two ticket stubs in the pocket seems an even smaller price to pay for a few wins.

My lucky tickets are in place tonight as the Cubs take on Houston. My question is, I'm not the only one who believes this stuff, right?

photo by Jessica Roberts