A proclamation

I am officially sanctioning the "Joan of Cub" principle which I thought of last week (and please, my name is not "Joan", it's Jim, but she wasn't "Jim of Arc" now, was she?).  Anyway, the idea is that for whatever reason, the Cubs do better when I don't watch.  I analyzed a stretch of five consecutive games where the principle applied.

Saturday's game between the Cubs and A's took me over the edge.  I was busy for most of the morning, and by the time I checked in on the game, it was 1-0 Cubs in the top of the fourth inning.  The A's had a runner on base.  The first hitter I watched drove in the tying run, the second got on base, and the third tripled home both.  Within five minutes of me turning on the television, it was 3-1 A's.  I didn't see a single Oakland batter retired.

I was unable (and unwilling, really) to see any more of the game, but I did get the chance to check the score on my computer later that afternoon.  It was 3-2 Oakland, with the game going into the bottom of the ninth inning.  No way was I going to turn the game on, but I struggled with whether or not to leave my computer on the update page of Yahoo.  Does the principle apply to me only watching or does it go beyond that, affecting the outcome if I am even aware of what is going on? 

I chose to not follow Yahoo, and checked back in twenty minutes later.  The Cubs scored two runs in the inning to win, 4-3.

I will not continue to write about this, as I suppose it will become tedious (if it hasn't already...), but I am ready, convinced actually, to admit that I am destined not to watch the Cubs if I want them to win.  I will struggle with this throughout the summer, and should I fall, I don't want the masses to blame me for what happens.