sport fan wisdom

Last night during waterbreaks in our regular Thursday night tennis game, each of us took turns darting into the club lobby to check on the scores of the Bruin and Celtic games. It turned out to be a disappointing night. When we finished playing we walked into the lobby and were greeted by a number of glum looking members pointing their thumbs down. As I proceeded toward the locker room, an acquaintance without so much as an initial hello said, "I think we'll win on Sunday."

Familiarity with fan subculture can explain how relative strangers can approach you in the locker room and ask "Who got the loss?" and immediately you know that the inquiry pertains to the Red Sox game and the need to know which pitcher had been identified officially as "the losing pitcher."

Before my tennis match yesterday, I overheard a man in a suit speaking with unmistakable irritation to another similarly attired club member. "So Ortiz is up AGAIN with men in scoring position in the 11th and what does he do--squat. Squat. He does squat. Tell me something. Just tell me something. What is he doing batting third?"

On the court during our match one of our foursome commented that the prior Sunday and Tuesday when one Boston team had won, all of the others had been victorious on the same day. He opined--not entirely in jest--that since the Red Sox had lost in the afternoon--the Bruins and Celtics would also fall. When as it turned out the Bruins and Celtics did eventually lose, the blame for all three games was attributed to the batting slump of David Ortiz.