It's Play-Off Time

We are headed into peak football time in America.  A smooth spot of living in Arizona during this time of the year is the timing of the games.  I feel like Goldilocks:  Football on the East coast starts too late, and football on the West coast starts too early.  However, football in Mountain Time Standard is just perfect.  The first pro game starts at 11 am, and you can even watch a college game during the season starting at 9 am!  Coffee and football; that combo is very satisfying.

I love football.  I've thought about that.  On the obvious level, it baffles me. First, it's really a simplistic game, and I'm many things but simple isn't one of them. Yes, I can hear all you football aficionados screaming at me, but what I mean is the basic RULES are pretty easily understood, and HOW the game's objective is accomplished is a no-brainer. (Move the ball down the field by running or throwing it at least 10 yards in four tries until the ball reaches the end area.)

My Dad taught me the game.  When I was thirteen, he insisted I join him for some of those early TV games.  He infected me with his enthusiasm for both college and pro football.  I learned when it was appropriate to talk and to not talk.  I picked up the lingo, so I could talk about the game before, during and after the contest.    Watching football was one of the few ways I had to spend one on one time with my father. Role models were like straight jackets when I was growing up.  Everyone insisted 'girls' could only be interested in certain things and 'boys' in their prescribed set of interests.  Girls really didn't even watch sports back in 1963, so my Dad was going against all the rules.      

He thought Bud Wilkinson, the Oklahoma University coach hung the world, so becoming a Sooner fan was automatic.  His admiration of Wilkinson has a lot to do with college football still being of more interest to me than pro football. The University of Oklahoma football was and still is the state's 'team'. Yes, I'm sure the O-state Cowboy fans will be howling, but truthfully, you all haven't produced.  Sit down and shut up until you do.  OU football began in 1895, and the program has 850+ wins, 154 All-Americans, 5 Heisman Trophy winners, and 45 conference championships.  The 'records' just go on and on.  We are really ready for our NEXT national championship.  I will admit to a wee bit of prejudice since I'm a grad.  Being able to participate as a fan at a big time college football school is quintessential college for me.

So, we Sooners are all atwitter because we are in our rightful place this year.  We are one of the four best teams in the nation and are in the nascent college football play-offs.  Yes, we fully expect to kick Clemson butt on New Year's Eve.  Then, hopefully, we'll get to humiliate the Crimson Tide in the 'big game'. If we have our druthers, that's exactly how it will go.

I do know all the play-off games will be a fun since college football is always zany.  Unlike the pro version of the game, you never know what might happen. Now is the time to have fun.  Very important not to jinx the team - don't wear any of that Tiger orange this week.  Time to complete the 'revenge' games sequence by flaming out that Clemson team who made the mistake of humiliating us in last year's bowl game.  Time for our quarterback to make his lack of Heisman invitation embarrassing for that committee.  Time for our backs to run and run and run, and time for our defense to have the Clemson quarterback hearing footsteps.    

There will be no tears shed, or stuff thrown around in our household whether we win or lose because ultimately, this is only a game. There will be a re-set, and the games will start again next year when it will be thrilling all over again.  This year, however, we're in the play-offs!  Look for the sea of Crimson in the stadium because Oklahoma fans 'travel' to see their team.  There will also be an army of us in front of the TV sets of America wearing their Sooner gear.  I, in fact, have a new Oklahoma shirt just for this occasion.   

So, as a lifelong Sooner, I have only one thing left to say...

    

 

More Than You EVER Wanted to Know about the Remodel!

     The biggest happening of this week is my granite got installed.  I looked and looked for the right granite.  We visited many, many, many granite yards and walked up and down aisle after aisle of granite slabs.  Naturally, all the yards are all the way across town.  And Phoenix definitely believes in sprawl, so it was usually anywhere from a 30 minute to one hour trip between our house and a granite yard.  

     Actually, it was very helpful I had granite installed in one of my Texas houses.  I learned then if you have dark wood cabinets, you need light colored granite; otherwise, your kitchen becomes a dark cave.  I also learned if you are going to the expense of granite, you should have ‘movement’ in it.  Movement is the natural variations in the stone.  Otherwise, just buy quartz, or Formica which are all uniform in pattern since they are man made.

   So, I tentatively picked out a few slabs which were ‘OK’. I was able to eliminate 90% of what I’d saw because the slabs were too dark, or the wrong color palette.  What I mean is I didn’t want white/gray granite because I have caramel colored cabinets.  Keep in mind, all granite slabs are stored in giant warehouses on concrete floors.  Oh, how tired my feet were at the end of a 'granite' day.  

Then, late in the game, we decided to add one more stricture:  Our granite slab needed to be three centimeters in width instead of two centimeters.  With a three centimeter piece of granite, you don’t have to glue (the fabricators call it laminate) an edge to the final counter top, you can just work the stone itself into whatever edge you want.  Well, as you can imagine, there’s slab after slab of two centimeter granite, but very few three centimeter slabs.  It’s all about cost.  Two centimeter granite slabs cost less than three centimeter slabs.

Back we go to places we’ve already been to check out any three centimeter slabs we might have missed.  Finally, almost on a whim, we went to one last granite yard which our fabricators recommended, and naturally, my granite slab was there just waiting for me.  I knew it was the one at once. 

It’s got a cream background with veins of caramel just the color of my cabinets with blotches of black, tying in my black appliances, as well as blotches of gray quartz tying in my new stainless steel sink.  An added bonus is at night when the light shines on some parts of the granite, there are some iridescent gold blotches at certain angles.  I love that the most – so unexpected, and subtle enough to be just a wonderful surprise.

Here is my granite in the warehouse

Another thing I learned from my Texas granite purchase, is the entire slab is yours no matter what percentage you use. Thus, we were determined to use every possible inch we could.  Drake actually cut out the counter tops in graph paper, and we manipulated the pieces on our graph paper slab of granite.  We had just enough.  

If you pick someone who can really work stone, then once you get the slab to the fabricator, you're home free. My fabricator even made me a 12” x 12” cutting board out of the cut out piece the sink drops into. Fortunately he carved handles because it weighs about 20 pounds.

Occasionally, there are accidents at granite yards.  Slabs are moved using a forklift equipped with what I think of as a fishing pole.  The chain dangling off the end of the pole has a rubber squeezer on the end, and slabs are fit into the squeezer and lifted dangling.  Then the fork lift moves the slab to wherever it's wanted.  It's how clients seen different slabs when they are stacked on top of one another.  Sometimes when moving slabs, they are dropped!  And when they are dropped, they break.  

Sometimes, fabricators sell back client leftovers to the granite yards, single slabs left over from a sold bundle, called orphans, wind up in the remnant section of a yard as well as the broken pieces from dropped slabs.  When I was looking for my granite, I ran across this fabulous slab which had green, navy blue and pink in it.  It was beautiful, but it was only two centimeters and, I thought pink and chartreuse green were not really my kitchen colors.  I did stop and admire this slab because it was really striking.  The young woman who was helping us mentioned she had a remnant of this granite since one of the slabs was dropped when they were moving it. 

Immediately, I realized what a great opportunity it was to have my built in bedroom vanity top out of this wild looking granite.  Drake negotiated a pittance price for the remnant, and again, realizing we would own the entire piece, I had the fabricator cut and polish the edges of the leftover section to exactly fit the top of another piece of my furniture.

This second piece I had fabricated out of the remnant is portable meaning not screwed down to the top of the furniture.  I glued some felt on the bottom of the granite piece, so it now just sits on the furniture piece, and believe me, it won’t move because it is HEAVY.

Well, now you’ve learned more about buying granite than you ever wanted to know.  It just shows you how consumed we’ve been with this house remodel.  I’m really very pleased with how it’s been going.  Driving today towards Texas, we were congratulating ourselves on meeting all our pre-Christmas deadlines.  

There have been only a few glitches during the process, and when you do this, that’s to be expected.  Fortunately, Drake was a project manager in his former life, so the glitches have been minor, and of someone else’s making.  An example would be the electrician got hung up on another job, was a day late coming to us, and set everything back coming behind him. Luckily, the sheet rock guy worked the weekend, and that got us back on track.

We've been working awfully hard for having hired others to do the bulk of the work.  I'm a 'silver' member of one of the largest on-line sales companies of materials because of my numerous purchases.  Packages have just been streaming into the garage including faucets, rough in valves, light fixtures, shower heads, grab bars and towel racks.  Naturally, one of the bulkiest things we ordered (the kitchen sink) was damaged. To the credit of Build.com, they replaced it immediately.  The fly in the ointment is after a month, the damaged sink is still in my garage since they are fighting with the shipper about who's going to pay for it.  

Yesterday, one day before we left for our Texas Christmas trip, I was in the bathroom finding places I needed to touch up with the new gray paint.  I know myself:  I would just go crazy standing in the new shower seeing some spot I missed painting. Take it from me, it really is much easier to paint a bathroom when there's no toilet, vanity, floor, or shower.  You can drip paint with impunity.  Drake painted the kitchen ceiling, and it was still a drag even though there was no floor to cover.  

When we return from the holidays, you can hear about the trials and tribulations of bathroom remodeling. Won’t that be fun?    

Swing that Hammer While Singing 'Santa Claus is Coming to Town'

Now I remember what the lead up to Christmas used to feel like:  A freight train bearing down upon me while I, running full tilt, tried to stay ahead of it.  Women are responsible for Christmas.  We are the logistical managers of this yearly project.  Most adult women have these lists, tangible and intangible, in our heads and on paper, filled with bullet points which say: 

• Get out the Advent Calendar
• Get family photo for Christmas Card/ecard taken
• Write chatty annual Christmas letter
• Address Christmas Cards (old school), or
• Send e-cards with kids' photos (new school)
• Plan charity gifts
• Find Christmas decorations
• Nag husband to get decorations down from attic/garage shelves/spare room closet
• Unpack and recondition Christmas decorations.
• Test the lights BEFORE stringing this year  
• Decorate house/office/school/church
• Buy tree/wreath/garland
• Decorate tree/wreath/hang garland
• What do I get the teacher, paper boy,  post man, co-workers, building super, or doorman?
• Figure out what the people in the family want
• Buy all the gifts
• Try not to get into buying frenzy this year
• Remember the reason for the season while taking deep breaths as you drive between holiday activities.
• Buy gift wrap and ribbons
• Wrap all the gifts
• Remember to TAG all the gifts while wrapping this year
• Get out special dishes
• Find Christmas table linens
• Figure out seating arrangements Christmas Day (Who's too old for the kid table?)
• Juggle Christmas party invitations.
• Figure out what to wear to all the parties
• RSVP Christmas party invitations.

And we haven't even talked about FOOD yet.  Let's just not go there.

Women in my age group who haven't 'let go' yet are basically comatose for the first two weeks of January because they are so tired from decorating, buying, gift wrapping, food shopping, babysitting, and cooking.  Young women are juggling the toddler/early elementary school set while working full time.  (They go from, 'Kid afraid of Santa. to Kid asking five times a day, When is Santa coming!)  I know there are women out there who would like to drive an ice pick through the heart of the composer of 'Jingle Bells'.  (This is the first song memorized by four to six year olds who love to then sing it at the tops of their tiny little lungs again, and again and again.) Women with older children don't have to work to preserve the Santa myth, but their cross to bear is reigning in pre-teen and teen Christmas greed and unrealistic expectations.  (No, I don't think a nine year old needs a make-up kit.  Are you kidding?  Do you know what the insurance cost is for a 16 year old boy driving a Corvette?  Plus, if your Dad can't have one, what makes you think you can?)

And we haven't even talked about FOOD yet.  Oh, Lord, so many special ingredients to buy.

Sprinkle all this with an unforeseen event like a house remodel, or an illness, or an unexpected trip,and Bob's Your Uncle, recipe for Hari Kari.  But, hey, Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukah, Happy Holidays, Joyous Kwanza or Bah, Humbug as you please.  And, as I'm sure you're asking, why, why do we do all this?

• For the joy of posting something each day of Advent
• Loving the growth progression of the children in each Christmas photo
• Sharing the joys and heartaches of the year with close friends
• Experiencing the joy of giving to the less fortunate
• Basking in the beauty of the twinkly lights
• Loving the face of the gift receiver when you've 'nailed it'
• Remembering the woman who bequeathed you that special bowl or table cloth or utensil
• Knowing that showing appreciation to those who work for you and with you forge bonds of community
• Enjoying making the special foods which seems so time consuming until it becomes a family sharing event
• Taking the opportunity to thank your creator for the 'new beginning' Christmas represents each year.

May your Holiday be as wonderful as mine is going to be.

Enjoying Christmas is all about attitude.  

 

  

The First Thirty Things Before a Single Hammer is Swung or Tile Laid

1)  Check out nine books on bathrooms/kitchens/remodeling

2)  Speed read nine books on bathrooms/kitchens/remodeling

3)  Use three pages out of nine books on bathrooms/kitchens/remodeling

4)  Buy four new magazines on kitchen/bathroom design for a $35.00

5)  Buy eight old magazines (circa 1995) on kitchen/bathroom design for $2.00

6)  Discover the old magazines have identical ideas to new magazines

7)  Eureka!  $100 dual flush, small footprint, ADA toilet

8)  Look at 300 kitchen sinks - buy one which includes freebies.

9)  Look at 25 kitchen faucets - buy one with handle I can figure out how to use

10) Go to retail plumbing supply store - use smelling salts upon hearing price quote

11) Become a 'silver' member of an on-line building supply company due to large number of
       purchases

12) Learn to control eye rolling when Drake screams, "STOP CHANGING YOUR MIND"
       four times a day.

13) Convince Drake we need to remodel the second bathroom NOW

14) Look at 2000 pieces of porcelain tile

15) Buy 20 pieces of porcelain tile

16) Return 20 pieces of porcelain tile

17) Agree to postpone tile decision on 2nd bathroom until after Thanksgiving to save marriage

17) Investigate the reputations of fabricators, carpenters, plumbers, tile layers, and bathroom
       remodelers.

18) Interview fabricators, carpenters, plumbers, tile layers, and bathroom remodelers

19) Discover a stone company which can cut slabs of marble to 1/4th inch

20) Drake does the happy dance for a 'no grout' shower.  Remodeler does happy dance for sale of
       marble shower

21) Look at 500 pieces of slab granite in four places, all of which are at least 35 minutes away from
      Sun City.

22) Go back to four places to look at more granite.  Gasoline rewards are robust this month.

23) Learn to ignore Drake when he yells, 'CAN'T YOU JUST MAKE UP YOUR MIND!"

24) Buy kitchen granite slab in the very last place we looked for granite - HA, VINDICATED!

25) Do slab lay-out the old fashioned way - with graph paper cutouts - thanks to Drake

26) Look at 1000 bathroom vanities

27) Remember remnant granite at granite supplier - will get for bedroom vanity

28) Buy the 1001st bathroom vanity

29) Find glass cutter who comes to house to cut down mirrors

30) Find hall sconce which matches living room lamps

Let Us All Bow Down to the Master Clock

One smooth spot of Arizona living is the LACK of monkeying with the clock.  Because of the climate and the perverseness of people who choose to live in the desert, we do not observe daylight savings time.  As the human race, we've gone from clocks, as our ultimate luxury possession to being our slave masters.  Just because we've shed our wrist watches in favor of our mobile phones doesn't mean we've broken our bonds of servitude to the time keeper.

One of the joys of retirement is the sliver of freedom I enjoy from the tyranny of the clock.  A true luxury is being able to lay in bed when I wake up, and even better, to be able to simply lay there contemplating the ceiling rather than cataloging all my chores of the day, and what time they have to be done. 

Time management is something we practice whenever we have a project, but it's not a relentless daily necessity as it is in the non-geezer world.  A friend sent me a picture of her childrens' Halloween costumes, and my first thought was, "I wonder when she had time to make those?"  No wonder so many women step back or down in the working world when they are responsible for small children. In my day (a true geezer phrase is there ever was one), I didn't know a single father who took on the responsibility of Halloween beyond following kids around during the actual event eating their candy, or if you lived in NOLA,  drinking a Dixie long neck.

Now 'being at work' is being redefined by constant connectivity, and I initially thought the redefinition would actually mean more flexibility for working parents, but it really means EXTENSION of work time.  "Honey, I just need 20 minutes to clear my email."  "If I can work uninterrupted here in the bedroom for an hour without the kids banging into the room every 10 minutes, I can really free up tomorrow when I'll  be slammed."  "Hello, you're working NOW?"  "Just 15 more minutes."  See, how the clock has become even more controlling than when we started work at 8 and left at 5?  The tag line from some commercial says it best, "When did it become a luxury to leave work on time?"  The operative words in that sentence being 'leave' and 'time'.

So, today, you are being offered the carrot - an extra hour.  Isn't that swell?  I can remember being thrilled and waiting to change the clocks until the next morning.  Forget 2:00 am.  It was as if I got to stick it to those relentlessly marching numbers by turning them back.   Well, the piper is just around the corner.  First, it's going to arrive tonight when you realize it's already dark!  Second, next spring the clock has jet lag in your own home planned just for you....  You're just a slave.  Clocks rule!  And not always in a good way.     

High Country Musings

Abbie Greenleaf Library, Franconia

I'd put my library card collection up against anyone's.  OK, I really do know no one collects library cards, but it is quite fascinating to see the differences in libraries across the country.  I've seen more than a dozen libraries in the past five years.  My soft spot library is Franconia, New Hampshire.  Colonel Greenleaf built the Franconia Library to honor his wife Abbie in 1912.  It's a Jacobethan cottage made out of Indiana yellow brick, with stained glass window flags, and African mahogany woodwork inside.  It's like a dollhouse when you walk in.  The new addition is completely concealed from street view so as not to detract from the historically significant building.  It's on the National Register of Historic Buildings.

Each library has all the regular stuff - books, mags, computer terminals, newspapers, CDs, DVDS, and librarians, but each one has its little quirks. The Newport, Oregon Library was open more than ten hours a day, seven days a week. One (unnamed) library had to close and fumigate for bedbugs. The Austin Library has security to rival airports.  The

I'm pretty sure this is 'Fortitude' because I find Patience annoying.

NYC Public Library lions have NAMES (Patience and Fortitude) given to them by Fiorello LaGuardia, the Mayor of New York during the depression to stand for the qualities he figured New Yorkers needed to get through the tough times.  The Lake Tahoe Library was set smack dab in the middle of a city run RV park.  I've also discovered libraries are enamored with bronze statues.  They run largely to 19th century children seated reading books.  Those statues attract white haired ladies but not 21st century children.

A surprising number of libraries in really small towns have new library buildings.  The library in Fraser is one of these.  The Fraser Library is also doing a quilt raffle ( keep your fingers crossed for moi).  Fraser is unique in that it offers  a 'free basket'.  Every library sells stuff - usually their purged material or donated items.  In Fraser's free basket there are usually outdated periodicals and children's books.  Ruffling through the basket each trip has garnered some great reads.

The last time I found High Country News.  (Considering Colorado is the first state to legalize the recreational use of marijuana, don't you just love the name?)  Actually, the subtitle is 'For people who love the West'.   It's a nonprofit news magazine covering environmental, natural resource, social and political issues affecting the American West - their words outlining who they are.  After having read two issues, it seems to be all about mountain living with a conservation twist.  Their advertisers are lots of small colleges touting their environmental/sustainability degrees, contractors outlining their 'green' residential construction, and travel opportunities for the adventurous.    In the second issue I read, they sprinkled the entire edition with famous quotes by conservationists beginning with Thoreau.  ("Simplify, Simplify.")  This publication is well written with thoughtful articles,  and essays.  If it hadn't been for the library, I'd never have heard of this magazine.

I loved the Marketplace portion of the magazine.  I've never seen help wanted ads like these:  Smith River Field Coordinator for Trout Unlimited.  Or, how about applying to be an Associate Director of Philanthropy for the Wyoming Outdoor Council.  I just wish they'd included the salaries being offered.  You can also buy stuff:  cast iron cookware scrubber,  ten floral varieties of raw honey, aromatic cultivated skin care, and my favorite:  Sign up for the 'green' dating website.

The point is libraries are still phenomenal resources of information and entertainment even in the age of hand held technology.  I've always been amazed by the vast majority of people who don't patronize their local library.  Are you still paying for downloading ebooks and audiobooks?  Why?  With a library card, you can access thousands of titles absolutely free.  Want to sample more than a hundred magazines and newspapers?  Check out your library.  They also offer classes tailored to the community they serve.  I've seen literacy classes and citizenship classes. Sun City offers a class to share your memories.  (OK, a little weird, but lots of people live alone in uber elderly land.)  Every library has story time for toddlers.  There's also homework help, writing classes, book clubs, tax help, technology help, and just a whole bunch more stuff.

My library card collection is in double digits; however, all you really need is one.      

      

The Post Season is Here!

In my baseball household, October is either a month to rejoice, or a month to absorb and reflect on the successes and disappointments of our team's 162 game season.  Fortunately, we are rejoicing since Drake's beloved Rangers are in the play-offs as the American League West Division Champs.  This is a double delight post season for us since the lowly Houston Astros are now RESPECTABLE, and without a doubt the Cinderella baseball team this year.  They've already kicked butt in Yankee Stadium, and took one game in KC.  The Astros were 'our team' the 20 years we were in Houston and New Orleans.  We had season tickets to the Astros when we were doing the DINK thing in Houston. 

Drake is a big believer in rooting for the home team, so when we moved to Hurst, Texas in 1990, a stone's throw from the Ballpark at Arlington, overnight we became Texas Ranger fans.  Drake is one of the faithful who believes in supporting his team whether they are last in the division at 67 and 95 (last year) or first at 88 and 74 (this year).  He knows more about baseball than any of the talking heads on TV.  He's also not a dyed in the wool, hidebound traditionalist.  Those idiots pretty much believe baseball should be played as it was in 1920 when the 'lively ball' was introduced. 

For the people who don't live with Drake Smith, let me explain.  The term 'lively ball' is a misnomer.  Ball manufacture was exactly the same before and after 1920.  What was different was a set of new rules.  In short, prior to 1920, one ball was used during the entire game (even foul balls were thrown back), and pitchers liberally 'doctored' the ball.  It became dirtier and dirtier.  A ball was only replaced when the yarn under the hide cover started to unravel!  As a game progressed, the ball became harder to see, harder to hit, and had less pop off the bat because of the deterioration of the ball. 

What prompted a whole bunch of new rules being adopted was the death of a player in the 1920 season. The poor guy couldn't see the ball well enough to get out of the way of a beanball, a ball that hits a batter in the head.  In the wake of the 1919 Black Sox gambling scandal, and Ray Chapman's beaning death, the traditionalists had to give way to the newly appointed baseball commissioner,  Kenesaw Mountain Landis.  He instituted numerous rule changes to the game.  One was the introduction of discarding balls and substituting new ones during the game when they showed any wear or tear.  Oh, and even though Gaylord Perry would disagree, spitballs became illegal.  So....after 1920, hitters could see the ball better, the clean, new balls had more pop off the bat, and the result was the start of the 'lively ball' era.

Now, it's the 21st century and Major League Baseball (yes, they capitalize all three words) is dragging its feet in adopting technology into the game.  They were dragged kicking and screaming into allowing umpires to be overruled by video replay.  What hasn't been corrected is allowing the umpires to affect the outcome of almost every single game played.  They are not neutral arbitrators. 

Every single major league park has 'pitch track' technology - in 3D!  In short, a high speed computer can look at a computer generated cube on every play and tell you exactly whether the pitched ball is a ball or strike in real time.  These calls are crucial.  A hitter and a pitcher adjust after every single pitch.  There are 'hitter counts' and 'pitcher counts'.  An entire ballgame can be compromised by an umpire who calls strikes which are actually balls and vice versa.  In fairness, the umpires do their very best, but what human eye can see exactly where a 100 mile fast ball as it crosses a 17" by 12.5" pentagon  and at what height?  Add in balls that literally wiggle around side to side or up and down as they cross home plate.  The problem is further compounded by the umpires' subconscious bias favoring seasoned star pitchers and batters.  

As you watch ANY baseball game this postseason, notice some of the media (TBS, ESPN) shows you the location of every single pitch using the pitch tracker, while other media (FOX) refuses to show the tracker at all.  Ever wonder why?  Well, it's an easy answer:  The tracker shows how inaccurate the umpires are at calling balls and strikes.  If you are lucky enough to watch a game showing the tracker, start thinking about how many calls are missed, and how different game outcomes could be if every pitch was accurately called.  In Drake's opinion, it's going to take a glaring, game changing outcome in the World Series involving balls and strikes before there's going to be any actual movement for technology adoption of the umpires 'announcing' the balls and strikes rather than deciding them.  He's just hoping to live long enough to see it.  That's a reflection of the stranglehold the traditionalists have on baseball.

One baseball tradition I can really get behind is the amount of superstition pervading the game.  Even Drake succumbs.  He's wearing his 'lucky sweatshirt' for every Ranger game now.  After all, they've won all three games when he has been wearing it.  I love to look for the superstitious aspects of the game.  They are often hilarious. 

Every wonder why there's so much weird hair in baseball?  It's all about superstition.  On the Ranger team, Derek Holland, who was sporting the "Wild Thing" haircut, abruptly got rid of it after a three game slump.  I would wager there's at least one member on each team in the play-offs who hasn't changed his underwear because everyone knows lucky underwear figures in any win streak.  Hats are notoriously lucky for pitchers.  Some of those toppers are so sweat stained and filthy, you know they haven't been swapped out since Spring Training began.  Notice the ritualistic hand movements from a hitter on base after a hit directed toward the dug-out.  The Rangers started this particular superstition by doing 'antler hands' in 2011.  Now, most teams have their 'I got a hit'signal' which usually changes from year to year.  Players follow strict pre and post game superstitious rituals.  Look for the elaborate hand and body movements between players in the dugout before a game starts.  Now, during the play-offs all the superstitions go into hyper drive. 

There are so many aspects to a baseball game, yes, even the ones which end 1 to 0, it's hard to be bored because this game is so complex.  It helps immensely to have Mr. Baseball doing commentary for me while watching.  Every part of the game is ramped up during the play-offs, so pick a team and get behind them.  Oh, and if you have any questions, they can be answered by Mr. Baseball himself.  Just let me know, and I'll pass them on.

GO RANGERS!