Did Beane choke?

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"Hudson (3-0) allowed five hits and walked two. He has allowed two runs in 29 innings this season for a microscopic 0.62 ERA."

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What's your superstition?

To be logged into this website means living through the ebbs and flows of the rollercoaster season that is the 2005 Oakland Athletics. Such experiences are likely to produce, especially amongst the most devoted fans (which all of us are), the eccentric phenomena known as superstitions. Oh, how the most mundane behaviors, trivial tics, odd rituals suddenly have the ability to turn straw to gold, or Yabu into Dennis Eckersley.

I've been a die-hard A's fan since the days of Jay Freakin' Howell and Bruce Bochte (hence the name). And during that time, I've collected an array of superstitions throughout each season, with each season the actions becoming more and more obscure and freakish.  Lucky socks have turned to lucky boxers.  Drinking milk the morning of gameday has become the ultimate sin.  And talking to your girlfriend during the ninth inning of a save opportunity has led to several blown saves by Octavio as well as a renewed single life.

I thought it would be cool to share each others' idiosyncrasies that have developed during the craziness of this season.  What voodoo magic have you preformed to help Mark Ellis hit three-twenty, influence Zito's curve to break an extra foot, or turn Bobbie Macs' hair even redder!

For starters, mine will be known as the Hot Potato Moneyball trick.  Early in the season during the gloom of Seventeen and Thitrytwo, none of my three A's jerseys, 4 A's caps, and 2 A's beanies had its magic.  I tried everything but nothing seemed to stem the tide.  And then the A's came back to beat Tampa Bay in late May and many superstitions were born.  During the beauty of June, July, and August, I made sure I did not talk to my brother (a.k.a. Plunkage) throughout the game, ate the same nasty Organic Mix Cereal each morning as I had been since late May, make sure I call my cousin approximately 30 minutes after each victory and chat for about 3 minutes....the list goes on and on.  

Then suddenly, lost series to the Twinkies. Swept by the Birds. Embarrassed by the Royales.  What the hell happened? I didn't change a thing.  Then, my brother comes to see me, with a copy of Moneyball clamped in his left hand.  He hands it to me, and says, "It has become painfully clear to me that since I started rereading this book (at the start of the Twins series) the A's have hit hard times.  I have clearly JINXED the A's by my actions and I have come here to set things right. You MUST read Moneyball to DE-JINX my curse on the A's."

And so it began.  Immediately, I began reading (for the first time) the words of Michael Lewis.  AND IMMEDIATELY, the A's went on a scoring rampage.  Victories over Detroit, Sweep of the Birds.  I finished the book just as Bobbie Mac hit his historic homer off F-Rod.  

But since then, the magic has been lost.  It wasn't until last Saturday that I realized that I have finished de-JINXING my brother's original Jinx, and that I must return the book to him, which I did on Sunday.  Since then, the A's have gone undefeated.  My bro has been instructed not to open the book for the rest of the season.  It thus remains.......hidden.

Please feel free to share your craziness.