The crazy time of the year.......

This is the time of the year when I become crazy.

Seriously...... mentally ill.

My two regular readers will notice that I haven't been posting much lately.

It's because I don't care.

This is the time of the year when my focus becomes entirely consumed by Angels baseball.

Entirely.

When I wake up in the morning, it's all I think about. I go over the day's pitcher, I'll look over the standings, and match up, and research how the team they are playing is pitching. This year I'm also looking at the match-ups of the team that the Angels are chasing....which this year happens to be the Oakland Athletics.

I live and die Angels baseball.

I even think of a configuration of clothing that will give the Angels good luck.

Seriously.

I choose a lucky shirt to wear....maybe an Angels themed shirt, or I'll dig around my shelves for my lucky underwear, maybe wear my lucky wristband.

All of this is designed to bring positive karma to the world to provide the Angels the best opportunity to win that day's game.

I know it sounds crazy.

That's because it is.

I realize this is a strange pattern of neuroses. I guess I'm slightly comforted by the fact that I recognize that it's crazy behavior.

But I don't care.

I'll do anything.

I'll tie my shoes a specific way if I think it'll help......shave a certain way. Drive a certain way to work.

When I watch a game I'll sit in a certain position. If they start to win....I won't move from that position.

If I'm holding something a certain way, I'll keep holding it that way.

I know that sounds insane.

But I don't care.

One of the many reasons why I love my wife is because she understands.

Unfortunately....I think my mental illness has spread to her. She now does things to aid my strange neuroses, even encourages me to act that way.

She won't watch if they start to win. Or she won't come into the room I'm watching the game in if they are doing well. She won't distract me, or contribute any negative karma that may hurt the Angels chances.

She'll even ask me if today is okay to wash my lucky shorts that I watch the game with, and sleep in.

Insane.

Sometimes we go days where the only thing we talk about is our son, and Angels Baseball.

If a game is on that night. We're not going out. No eating out, no movies, no visiting friends, no paying bills, no leaving the vicinity of the television.

I'm incapable of doing anything productive around the house....until a commercial break.

I believe the movie Fever Pitch has a line where the main character.....who also suffers from baseball pennant insanity says that "It's good for the soul to invest in something that one can't control."

I guess.

But it's still insane.

I realize that.

I guess people justify this type of behavior by saying that it's all for fun.

Which it is.

But a part of me hates feeling this way, sometimes it doesn't feel fun. Especially when they lose.

Sometimes I'll stun myself with my insanity. I'll see myself acting a certain way and think....

"Boy...I've really lost it" or I'll cheer loudly, or jump in the air, like I've accomplished something incredible...when in reality, I'm just witnessing something fun.

I guess I'm just an Angels baseball nut.

Insane.

What's even more insane is that no matter how they do. If they win it all, or lose, the moment when the Angels season is over.......... I start thinking about the next year.

For more insanity.

There's only one thing that distracts me nowadays from Angels baseball.

It's my son.

I'll look at him, and realize that when the Angels lose, it's not really that big of a deal.

I'll see him smile, and hear him laugh, and realize it's all just a game, meant for amusement and entertainment.

It's what I do to comfort my depression when the Angels lose.

I walk into my bedroom, and look at my son, I look at him and smile, and realize how lucky I am to have a beautiful son in my wife's arms or asleep in his crib......

In his Angels baseball outfit.

Insane.