Looking At The World Through Brown Colored Glasses
I've never really been a "glass is half full" sort of person. When I look at that glass I can't help thinking that while it may very well be half full, I'll always know that the pitcher that filled it is at least that much emptier.
That sentiment certainly colored my thinking when Minnesota Vikings kicker Gary Anderson was lining up to attempt a routine 38 yard field goal with just over two minutes left to go in the 1999 NFC championship game. Nihilist In Golf Pants correctly chronicles my pre-kick prediction and...we all know how it turned out.
Some wish to pin the blame for that debacle on my pernicious pessimism. I say balderdash to all that...and I'll throw in a poppycock or two for good measure.
If my all too frequent predictions of doom for our local sports teams in general, and the Vikings in particular, had even the most tenuous link to causality we'd never even get the chance to celebrate a win in this city. Ask anyone who knows me...if "wearing your gamer" had the decisive influence on sporting events that Vox suggests it does, there is no way in hell that the Vikings would have won 15 games in 1999. Trust me.
All that aside, I've been known to be quite the optimist at times.
Take this past Sunday, for example, when the Twins' third string catcher (and fifth string DH) Matthew LeCroy was at bat with runners on first and third. I said "I'll bet he smashes one over the fence." Well...no...I didn't quite say it that way. I think what I said was more along the lines of "I'll bet that pathetic waste of human flesh is going to hit into a double play again."
The final box score reads that Matthew powered one over the left field fence for a three run homer...but I'll always know it was nothing more than a double play ball that hit one hell of an updraft somewhere between home plate and second base.
How's that for optimism?
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