Act 2: Lucky Charms




Bound Brook High School Echo 1976

 


Into the post-anthem stillness slink the pre-game rituals.

Players slip on last-minute pads as much for luck as protection. They don't look at the cheerleaders, but are acutely aware when and by whom their name is called. A few stretch, dribble, or run a high-stepping sprint beside the bench. Ball handlers spray Stick-Um onto hands and forearms. For the best teams the personal rituals coalesce. 

I was on a high school baseball team, the red and white Bound Brook Crusaders, that started out having a mediocre season at three wins and two losses. Before the next game an old man who had just retired showed up with a giant pack of Big Red. On his way to man the old wooden scoreboard along the right field foul line he slipped a spicy stick of the new chewing gum to each player along the home bench. Then he boomed "GO BIG RED" before our at-bats that produced more runs each inning than in any previous game. After that romp over a rival team, the passing out of Big Red led to an eighteen game winning streak that left us conference and region champs and a top ranked team in the state. Was it the Big Red, Mr. Mathews, or our confidence that turned the season around? Of course it was the Big Red.

At many sporting events all pre-game nervous energy ceases when team captains walk to the center of the field or court. Each team sends out the scariest player along with their best leader to stand at midfield with a striped referee gesturing back and forth. The captains just want the spectacle over. A silver dollar is tossed, heads or tails, and everyone else strains to see who will get the ball and who will give chase. 

That decided and enacted by the referee, the captains jog back to the team and the real tension starts. 







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