THE BUTTERFLY EFFECT

I'll be using this post to test either the awesome power of my jinxability, or my complete ineffectualness (yes, that is a word).

The two NFL teams I follow, the New England Patriots, who have been my team since I was 9 years old, and the Philadelphia Eagles, who I root for principally because rooting against them may be hazardous to my health where I live, are a combined 19-0 since October 12th, when the Eagles lost to the Cowboys. I haven't mentioned the two winning streaks here in this space, or done much more than merely contemplate this fact, for fear of somehow affecting the outcome of the games. This is irrational of course, but somehow palpably logical nonetheless, based on empirical evidence dating from my childhood (see New England Patriots team history, 1976-2000 for supporting documentation). My capacity for negatively influencing sports teams extends to baseball, where the New York Mets had a lengthy run of fetidness throughout my adolescent years. The Mets eventually had the great fortune to meet the Boston Red Sox in the World Series in 1986, successfully using this team's vast ill-fated nature as a shield against my relatively puny one. No baseball team that I follow has since managed to overcome my deletirious impact, although the teams in question, the Chicago White Sox, Houston Astros, and Philadelphia Phillies, have some serious karma issues of their own. Getting back to the Patriots, they also surmounted my bad mojo, winning their only Super Bowl title in 2002. I still haven't figured that one out. I think I was just having a bad day.

In any case, this year the Pats and Eagles are each on a roll, and nothing I do seems to be able to stop it. Hence this post. I mean, why even have a weblog if you can't demonstrate your natural gifts? So, to that end, WOOOO-HOOOOO!!! Go Pats! Go Eagles! Win the rest of your regular season games, win two playoff games, and you guys are headed to Super Bowl XXXVIII! You can do it! Super Bowl bound! See you in Houston! WOOOO-
HOOOOO!!!

There. To the eventual Super Bowl champs: You owe me.