The Television-Watching Habits of a Paranoid Psychotic

I've gone through phases where I was convinced I was the bearer of luck, good or bad. I've gone through phases where I was convinced that I was but a mere speck in the universe and therefore not responsible for the outcome of a hockey game. And I think now I've reached a point where I'm somewhere in between - my crazy hockey brain is telling me to do something or not do something just in case while the logical side (and frankly the less frequently used side) is telling me to get over myself.

When I was little I used to think the Caps couldn't lose if I watched them on TV. Well, I watched a lot of games and you only have to look at their records since 1982 to see that clearly that didn't work. I think that one was more an outgrowth of my naive optimism, though, and less of a superstition per se. How could they lose if they were my team and I was watching? That would just be wrong.

The biggest thing I can remember since then was the first season after the lockout. My roommate and I quickly discovered that we could not watch a game on TV together in its entirety if we wanted the Caps to win. We could go to games and be fine (sometimes), we could watch one or two periods together and be fine (sometimes), but never a whole game. I think our streak was something ridiculous like 20-25 games straight - it sounds crazy, but we actually stopped watching games together for a while just in case. I distinctly remember the Caps playing the Kings out in LA and being behind when roomie went to bed; soon after, Ovechkin completed a hat trick to win the game. And that was just par for the course at that point.

Later we realized it was probably a result of the Caps simply sucking, to put it frankly, and not the combined forces of our cosmic aura or whatever it was that was causing them to fail night after night...after night. But at the time I remember it being particularly terrifying that we were unknowingly using our magical powers for evil rather than good.

This season the closest I've come to a superstition has been my clothing decision, at times convinced I should wear my new red shirt instead of my beloved black jersey to games or vice versa because the Caps won while I was wearing one or the other. But since both are on extended losing streaks that theory joins the others as holding little water - and we're back to the Caps' basic inability to win as being the biggest problem.

I guess I've just tried to avoid taking on the burden of losses or wins as a personal thing, if only because this team is so consistently up and down from year to year regardless of who plays for them. I would go crazy trying to figure out what I did to make them win/lose/flail around helplessly looking for the puck, and I'm crazy enough as it is.

I'd much rather enjoy the ride, even with the losses...and simply blame injuries or the refs like everyone else.