tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4307187040250193857.post7515619357173485402..comments2024-03-20T03:33:22.357-07:00Comments on Skeptophilia: Writing's on the wallGordon Bonnethttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06003472005971594466noreply@blogger.comBlogger1125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4307187040250193857.post-6078277503922712382020-06-29T06:58:07.793-07:002020-06-29T06:58:07.793-07:00Having turned 13 on Friday the 13th and played hoc...Having turned 13 on Friday the 13th and played hockey and baseball, sports widely known for their superstitions (though I am certain it's not limited to just those two), I've got a metric shit tonne of superstitions. I throw salt over my shoulder, I don't open umbrellas indoors, I don't walk under ladders (though recently while painting my house I had to do it several times simply because of how I needed to have the ladder positioned and I am happy to report nothing catastrophic happened. That said, things did happen and if I wasn't normally prone to fucking up and/or injuring myself it would have been easier to take it as a "sign"). <br /><br />So for me, the weirdest one is for hockey where I won't wear socks on my feet and always lace up the left skate first. Why? Because I was in a slump at the same time I got new skates. Wearing bare feet in new skates is a good way to get them molded to your feet better (so I was told). On that particular day I laced up good ole Lefty Footy first and had bare feet and had a banner game. So, that's just the way it went for the rest of my playing days, in spite of the fact that just as many bad games occurred after that day as did good. <br /><br />I also won't step on a foul line when coming onto or off of the baseball field. That one's pretty common in the sport but I have no idea why so I looked it up and the best thing I can find points to a time when the foul line didn't lay flat on the ground so players were accustomed to "hopping" over it. <br /><br />The funniest one from baseball I can think of is from the pros. Apparently there was a player (I forget who) who wouldn't come onto the field until the last digit of the time was a "7". So, if they were starting they wouldn't come out until it was something with a 7 on the end of the score clock. One opposing team found this out once and got the scoreboard people to rig the clock so it skipped the 7's. No idea on the outcome but the thought of it happening made me smile. <br /><br />There is one that I have done my whole life and didn't know why until it was mentioned by another writer that I know, S.J. Cairns. I sleep with the open end of my pillow case facing out. Apparently if you sleep with it facing in you're going to trap bad dreams. Suffice it to say I'm not changing the orientation of my pillows anytime soon, except to flip it over to enjoy the cool side :) Andrew Buttershttps://www.blogger.com/profile/18129116283463309554noreply@blogger.com