The little man and his team will play Game 3 of the All-Star tournament tonight. If we win tonight we move to the 9/10 Virginia District 16 Championship.
But, shhhhhh. The Championship is the game which cannot be named. Because in the baseball world the only game that anyone must discuss is the next game. We do not look ahead lest the sky falls and the whole thing goes down the toilet because OH MY GOSH. BITE YOUR TONGUE. YOU'RE JINXING IT!!
If you are unaware, baseball is a game full of superstition and rituals. In my years as a baseball mom, wife and fan, I have heard of numerous curses and various routines meant to ward off the ire of the "Baseball Gods". The Red Sox and The Curse of the Bambino? The Cubs and The Curse of the Billy Goat? Joe Skinner and the "No, of course, I can't get a haircut! Are you insane? I'm on a hitting streak!"?
There are major league players - grown up adults - who eat the same thing before each game. Some will avoid stepping on the foul line on the way to the field. There are those who refuse to wash their pants or shave their beards.
And I find it hilarious because as I continually remind my people, we are fully in the tank for Jesus around here. We are a people of faith, for Pete's Sake. This is all a bunch of bunk. As believers of a God fully and completely in control, we don't believe in that nonsense. None of that makes a whit of difference.
And yet.
I generally keep myself in the same seat if we're winning and if things go wrong I change positions. This is a picture of me at an AllStar game in 2011 when Husband was coaching and Joe was playing.
Don't I look like I'm just having a blast? I feel the need to point out that things were actually going very well at this game. Which means I likely stayed exactly in that position for six innings. I think my hand started to cramp up. To be sure, I was reciting Joshua 1:9, Phillipians 4:13 and Luke 1:37 consistently in my head. But, it can be easy to fall in to the superstitious stuff.
And my husband? The man God chose for me? A man of faith. A man who reads the Bible just about every night?
I'm going to give you a little slideshow of Coach through the years and see if you might notice something.
This is Husband during his first run as manager of the All Star Team in 2010.
Here he is in 2011.
2012 . . .
2013 . . .
He didn't coach in 2014.
Now, boys and girls. The league gives the coach a new shirt each year. Coach can wear whatever shorts he chooses. For those of you who haven't clicked away (because WHY have we just scrolled through four photos of a baseball coach??), if you are an expert in baseball superstition you will notice that in 2013, we seemed to have lost the off-white shorts. All of the teams were very successful. All of them got to the championship game. In 2010 they didn't win, but it was the first time our league had won more than a couple of games in the tournament, so honestly we all felt like those kiddos were world champions that year. The 2011 and 2012 teams won the district championship. 2013's team was a great team and we were looking for a three-peat. That team perhaps had some of my favorite boys in all the world playing on it. We were incredibly proud of their run. They found themselves in the championship, but fell short in that final game.
Fell short. So to speak.
Dear Lord. WHERE were the off white shorts in 2013? Had I thrown them away? Did they fall apart in the dryer and disappear into the vent? Did someone from another league come into my house and steal those shorts right out from under us?
Look, you crazy, superstitious whackjobs. The 2014 team won the district championship without Coach Skinner or his shorts. Let's get a grip.
But, just in case. Here we are in 2015. THE SHORTS ARE BACK, folks. The hem is coming out. They have strings hanging from them. I really hope they don't fall off of Coach in the middle of the game.
Now, Brothers and Sisters in Christ,
Let's pull ourselves together, 'kay? We do not believe in a pair of old, nasty shorts. We believe in the heart and guts of our players. We believe in a God who loves us and cares about those boys - yes, He cares about baseball, because He cares about them. He's got the whole thing under control. And win or lose, He loves all the players in all the leagues in all the whole darn world.
Alrighty? Are we all set now? Because I gotta go. I have to wash those shorts.
No comments:
Post a Comment