Dater: Things Coming Together Again For Avs

Aaron Baker/Icon Sportswire

Anybody who has known me long knows the DaterJinx is a real thing. At times uncanny, almost supernatural, the Jinx includes a nice ReverseJinx feature that comes in handy for teams I/we want to win, when I do something specific (an action, a prediction, a vote of overconfidence) on the opponent’s behalf and the other team falls apart.

The Dater ReverseJinx started in earnest in a 1977 Red Sox-Yankees game, when I was 12 years old. I was home alone on a Friday night (parents went out) and settled in to watch a game on our 13-inch Sony Trinitron TV (color). I was in the bathroom doing my thing, when a Red Sox player hit a home run, then another was hit right after that. Thinking it might be a sign of good luck to come, I stayed in the bathroom. Two more Sox home runs were struck in that inning (the first, I believe) off Catfish Hunter. So, I stayed in the bathroom the rest of the game. All nine innings. Sox win over the hated Yankees.

There have been way too many weird Jinxes/Reverses to count since. So, we have a new DaterReverse Jinx. Let’s call it “The Avs win when Dater falls asleep in the third period” ReverseJinx.