i am pretty superstitious about the a's too.  for instance, if we're in a tight game and are facing a threat, i feel that i cannot watch or listen.  if i watch or listen, i know they will fail.  like yesterday, i pulled up im my car during the ichiro ab, only to have the bad throw.  i quickly turned off the radio and went into my girlfriends house.  i resisted temptation for a couple mins, but finally had to turn the game on.  the a's had already won.

the worst one though was game 5 of the 2003 alds.  i had to go, but was watching that fatefull ab to manny.  i was late but told myself, "ok, one more pitch."  bam, 3 run homer.  i still blame myself for that loss...

I cannot wear the colors of the opposing teams the day the A's play them.  I blame this on my sister (HUGE Kings fan).  She has this dry erase board where she writes things like "GO KINGS!" etc.  Anyways, she is very strict about not using ANY color of the Kings next opponents on that board.  NONE whatsoever.  If anyone even makes a tiny dot on the board using the next opponent's colors, she freaks out.  

That has led me to develop my color superstition where I cannot wear the colors of the A's opponents.  I have several slippers that I wear at home.  Before the A's/Yanks game on Tuesday, I was this close to wearing my blue slippers but I quickly realized the mistake I was about to make.  I chose to go with the purple slippers instead and the A's didn't lose that day.  Had I worn the blue ones instead, Matsui would have played Scutaro deeper and would have caught that ball.  We would have lost that game.  I know it.  :-P

Anyways, my other new supersition is to never make negative jokes about the A's.  I have forbidden my sister from doing so as well.  I always send my sister e-mails with pictures of A's players and cute/funny captions with them.  Anyways, on opening day, I sent my sis a pic of Stomper and Zito.  She responded by writing "Stomper pitches better than Zito."  And guess what?  With the way Zito pitched on opening day.... <Shudder>.... Stomper couldn't have been any worse.  :-/

And then last Friday, I was talking to my sister about the Kings/Clippers game.  I mentioned that the Kings will have to contain Sam Cassell (Kings killer) and she just shrugged it off.  That surprised me and I said "You need to go back and see the hi (low) lights from the 2004 playoffs when he killed us!"  That clearly touched a nerve and she sarcastically responded by saying that maybe I need to see the baserunning blunders by the A's in the playoffs.  (That was so not cool!)
Anyways, I told her that "That's why we got rid of Miggy, Byrnes, and Jeremy.  We don't have those guys anymore!"  Anyways, as it turned out, Milton Bradley missed third base that night and I'm sure it brought back those memories.  <Shudder>  Thankfully, it didn't cost us the ballgame.  
My sister said she watched that part and thought about what she said to me that afternoon.  She said she felt guilty and sorry.  I told her to NEVER EVER joke about these things again.  

My green wristband is cursed. CURSED. Every now and then I forget and put it on, then the A's lose.

My father and I have a particular routine where we make fun of Melhuse when we're at the game and he's at bat and the A's need a big hit -- it's gotten pretty good results. I love Adam, but I have no guilt about taunting him for the greater good. :-)

Sometimes when the A's are on a big losing streak, I'll put an A's cup filled with peanuts up by all my bobbleheads as an offering to the Baseball Gods.

I have systems for whether I have Gameday on or not while watching a game, and which game I have it set on. Varies based on the starting pitcher.

Foo Fighters 'Hero' is my Rich Harden theme on my baseball playlist and I'll often play it during the first inning for him. If I feel the spirit, I'll play over and over until he gives up a baserunner. Last year, during the July perfect attempt, I ended up playing it nonstop whenever he was pitching for a very long time.

And of course, the don't-talk-about-don't-think-about perfect games and no-nos.

And when the A's suck, I go get a snack because I know they're just waiting for me to leave before doing something hella awesome. Damn wily bastards.

For two seasons, this was my designated rally cap.  I didn't wear it very often, because I didn't want to use it up, but in dire circumstances, and in combination with the right hairstyle, it worked wonders.  Especially if I was physically at the game.

And then, woe is me, I had a brilliant idea.  I decided to get my lucky hat signed last year at fanfest.  This not only caused the luck to completely laeave the hat (every subsequent wearing during a game has caused a loss) but it also cursed many of the players who signed for me.  Blanton's horrible start to the year last year, Melhuse's rotting on the bench, and I don't even have to explain about Keith Ginter, Dan Meyer, Charles Thomas, and Dave Hudgens. Only one man escaped (further) injury and bad times.  Although he did get totally cheated out of the comeback player of the year award.  I won't say his name for fear of divine retribution, but you get he idea.

As far as actions go, touching the hats of my stomper and rich harden bobbleheads wards off bad luck, as does tossing a certain baseball up and down a certain number of times depending on the number of the player in question.  That baseball isn't allowed to leave my room in my parents house though, which makes it tough.  Most imoprtantly, especially good pitching cannot be spoken of.  Especially harden.  In other situations, circumlocution can be used to a certain extent-- "none of the XXteamXX hitters can figure out our pitching today", but even that's pushing it.  In a Harden situation, nothing can be said.  I'd rather talk about the weather, Barroids, famous playoff baserunnning miscues, anything but the Schrodinger.  

http://www.progressiveboink.com/dugout/

Warning: some coarse language on here if you are concerned about that sort of thing.

I have way too many game time superstitions to even delve into.

Since I live in Portland, I rarely get to games. I usually follow play by play on the A's web site or on yahoo. But first I always play a game of Solitaire. If I get over 100 as my score, the A's win. Less than 100 and that is sure sign they're going to lose. Funny thing is that it usually works out that way. Now that I know the rest of you crazed A's fans are as nutty about superstitions as I am, I may just be able to let this go.

Go A's