Ya Gotta Believe in the jinx

If youre a Mets fan then you know the mantra "Ya Gotta Believe". Well truth be told im not a huge believer in one thing. The SI cover jinx. But lately Im a believer. Let me backtrack. Things like the SI cover jinx or the Madden cover curse, I believe, are explained fairly simply and logically. The way i see it is that a guy or girl (or group of guys or girls) gets on the cover of SI when one of a number of different things happen. Since its a weekly publication they try to grab a person when they are hot. So for example if a player is hitting .400 in June (like Joe Mauer last year) hes probably going to get on the cover. But all that really means is, that the guy is probably due to slump. Inevitably when the player falters (like Mauer did) people like to "blame it" on SI. In reality Mauer was due for a slump or due to have some hits not fall in. In addition,  theres the little bit of extra pressure to perform because they are now in the spotlight. 

It was with this belief in mind when I picked up my SI in February of 2008.
"Happy Days" was an article about how Johan Santana was going to change the culture of the Mets. Well we know how that season ended. The same as the year before. Thanks a lot SI. The next year they put the Yankees CC Sabathia on the cover. Alright this I can handle. Finally the Yankees will feel what the Mets felt. But i missed something. Who was that in the corner? David Wright. Who did they predict to win the world series? the Mets. Well Wright wound up having the year from hell. And the Mets lost 90 games. 




But this years SI baseball preview really gives a Mets fan something to be excited about. Roy Halladay of the Phillies and CC Sabathia in the corner with a prediction of a repeat of the AL east title. This was something I could believe in. So why didnt i write this piece in the beginning of the year? I was waiting. I was thinking. Bad things had to stop happening to the Mets and the Phillies were due for some bad luck, i thought. And then it started to happen. Big Pelf really does seem to be maturing. Reyes really does seem to be fully recovered. Jerrys move of Reyes to the 3 spot actually seems to be working. Ike Davis is actually panning out. Maybe there is less pressure on the Mets now and so they can play easier.


I had been putting this post on hold since spring training but after seeing that next weeks SI cover will be featuring "the core four" of the Yankees (featuring Jorge Posada, Mariano Rivera, the second best SS on the Yankees and a guy who left and pitched with the Astros for a few years because the "classy" Yankees didnt want to meet his salary demands) I just couldnt resist.

Hey - "Ya Gotta Believe"