23 January 2013  For His Next Trick...  By Joe Speaker Los
Angeles, CA  The commercials are dumb, sure, and I don't even
know what crappy beer they're selling so quickly do I shut off
my brain when I see them on screen, but there is truth in the
49ers fan sitting in his favorite spot from 1995 and the guys
with their labels out for the field goal try. Sports fans are
superstitious. We truly believe we have some supernatural
ability to alter or influence the outcome of a sporting contest
in which we have nothing but a rooting interest. If you are
scoffing at me right now, first, stop and second, you are lying
to yourselves, because you've done it, maybe not consciously,
but you've done it. I can't watch Oakland A's playoff games with
my mother. They have never won in the post-season when she is in
the room telling me to "be quiet" and "calm down" and "stop
yelling at the umpires." My friend Kool Breeze spent large
portions of the 1990 NLCS with his pants half off, a ritual he
believed helped his Cincinnati Red