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Then perhaps hell actually is the furnace-like burning place, created in desperation by the people whose blood is being sucked by the insects?
Seriously though, the superstition is probably just where our need to take control of a situation meets our inclination to find patterns in life. Logically, of course, the ritual is meaningless; is Marc-Andre Bergeron less likely to fuck up because of my choice of breakfast cereal? Unless my choice of breakfast cereal is "not his cat, unless he ignores my ransom note and goes ahead with the fucking up anyway," the answer is probably no.
Sports aren't the only situation in which our need to "do something" overpowers our logical perception of helplessness with respect to the results. (Look no further than the infectious disease expert's pet peeve of antibiotics prescribed to treat the common cold, because taking a pill makes you think you're making a difference.) I guess when the home team's fate is on the line though, the "something" just becomes that much further estranged from rational thinking, and the faith in it becomes that much more crystallized.
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June 09, 2006 -- 4:31 PM
posted by alison
hey, speaking of canadian teams, check this out
"The 2006 National hockey League Finals may include only one Canadian NHL Team, the Edmonton Oilers, but Canada will be very well represented with 27 Canadian natives battling for the NHL’s ultimate prize, the Stanley Cup, as members of either Edmonton or Carolina."
now, if that doesn't inspire national pride, what does? Edmonton has 15 of them.
June 09, 2006 -- 3:47 PM
posted by alison
our team didn't make it to the world cup. so who cares if they aren't missing a goalie and aren't down 2-0 in the series?
"Canada will be spending another year watching the FIFA World Cup after a failed qualifying campaign relegated the Canucks to spectators."
huzzah
June 09, 2006 -- 9:22 AM
posted by Par
"It's like the Olympics plus the World Series plus the birth of your first child all multiplied by X, where X equals awesome"
-- John Hodgman, the Daily Show's resident expert
The World Cup starts today. (And our team isn't without a goalie and down 2-0.)
June 08, 2006 -- 11:26 PM
posted by M. Mash
you got the stuff? i got the money
June 08, 2006 -- 7:08 PM
posted by nobody knows my face
yeah man, I got the shit.
June 08, 2006 -- 5:44 PM
posted by alison
Then perhaps hell actually is the furnace-like burning place, created in desperation by the people whose blood is being sucked by the insects?
funny, Par. it was an example of what I would've done if it'd promised to stop the biting. I would've committed mass (human) murder if I'd been guaranteed that no more insects would bite me. I could've strangled my field partner, because it was his work that had us out there in the evening. but somehow the last vestiges of my conscience won out over my desperation.
I'd still say that, for me at least, no heat I've ever experienced has been as horrible as the incessant biting of all those nasty bugs. I've willfully donned more heavy layers on unbearably hot days just to ensure that fewer mosquitoes would be successful in biting me, even at 40 C. And, the burning would've abated the bugs, so it would've been less hellish. ha! or, at least, I could've jumped into the fire for a different sensation than the constant crawling, biting and sucking credited to the myriad insects we encountered.
June 08, 2006 -- 2:34 PM
posted by M. Mash
taylor i left some shit in ur van on tues, just to let u know dont know if u found it or not
June 08, 2006 -- 8:05 AM
posted by Par
Your non-Oilers news, first. Militant leader Abu Musab "White New Balance Shoes" al-Zarqawi has been killed.
June 08, 2006 -- 2:05 AM
posted by eric
just wanted to send out a big shout out to my homie, GLEN ANDERSON!
June 08, 2006 -- 12:03 AM
posted by Par
hell is not a furnace-like burning place. hell is full of blood-sucking insects that leave you itching and on the verge of insanity but no closer to actual death.
...
I was ready to commit mass murder last night, and/or burn the forest to the ground... if it would've slowed the mosquitoes, noseeums and other biters...
Then perhaps hell actually is the furnace-like burning place, created in desperation by the people whose blood is being sucked by the insects?
I'm not sure what to make of all this superstition stuffIf you mess up your precise ritual, the hockey (or the applicable sport) gods get upset, and your team loses. It's really quite simple. I'm not sure where the disconnect is.
Seriously though, the superstition is probably just where our need to take control of a situation meets our inclination to find patterns in life. Logically, of course, the ritual is meaningless; is Marc-Andre Bergeron less likely to fuck up because of my choice of breakfast cereal? Unless my choice of breakfast cereal is "not his cat, unless he ignores my ransom note and goes ahead with the fucking up anyway," the answer is probably no.
Sports aren't the only situation in which our need to "do something" overpowers our logical perception of helplessness with respect to the results. (Look no further than the infectious disease expert's pet peeve of antibiotics prescribed to treat the common cold, because taking a pill makes you think you're making a difference.) I guess when the home team's fate is on the line though, the "something" just becomes that much further estranged from rational thinking, and the faith in it becomes that much more crystallized.
load more posts . . .