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August 16, 2003
The Curse
When I was about 10 years old, my dad took me to my first baseball game. It was a Blue Jays game in Exhibition stadium (this was years before the Skydome was built). I don't remember who the visiting team was, but they beat the Jays. I went home disappointed that my first baseball experience ended in a loss. The next time I saw the Blue Jays was at Skydome. Again, I don't remember the opposing team, but again, the Jays lost. This is when I began to suspect I was cursed.
Flash forward to 2002.
I was interning at Microsoft and was treated (along with the other interns) to a ball game. Seattle was playing Tampa Bay, and we all expected the Mariners to destroy this expansion team. Somehow the Devil Rays not only beat the Mariners, but beat them by a lot. The same thing happened this past May when I saw the Mariners play the White Sox.
Now I'm no huge baseball fan, but just once in my life it would be nice to see the home team win. On Thursday I put the curse to the test and let Microsoft treat me to a ball game. The Blue Jays were in Seattle.
The game was good, and the baseball experience is always interesting. There was a very intoxicated man sitting behind me who kept shouting to the Seattle batters to hit one into left field so he could catch it. I didn't have the heart to tell him we were sitting in right field. After a few innings, he tapped me on the shoulder.
Drunk: "Do you have a problem with worms?"
Me: "Excuse me!?"
Drunk: "Did you get that Blaster worm in your computers at work?"
Me: "Oh, the computer virus. Um, no we weren't affected."
Drunk: "Were you the guys who found it?"
Me: "Um, no I think it was another..."
Drunk: (shouting at the Blue Jays) "Go back to Canada!"
Despite all that, the curse worked flawlessly. 15 years after my first ball game, I finally got to see the Blue Jays win. Maybe I should use this curse to my advantage... anyone know any bookies in Seattle?