The date? April 13th, 2009.
Its significance? First regular season game ever played at Citi Field.
I was lucky enough to attend the game. Despite the loss it will always be cool to say I was at the first ever regular season game there. That said, I’ve had serious doubts about the attire I wore to the game.
In case you don’t remember, I own a pair of Mets tube socks. Now, these aren’t any old, ratty tube socks. These are lucky tube socks. No time in recent memory have the Mets lost on a day when I wore the socks. In 2008 when I wore them, they were 3-0, all of which were relatively important wins.
Why don’t I wear the socks every day you ask? To answer this question, I quote from a piece I wrote for Hot Foot last year in September:
- The more I wear the tube socks the less lucky they become, the longer that they remain dormant luck stores up and they become more effective.
- I do not choose when to wear the lucky tube socks, the lucky tube socks choose when to wear me.
- General societal rules dictate that I should wash my footwear every once in a while in order to prevent serious odor issues.
Now, these socks are not only lucky, but also famous. Last year, in Sports Illustrated, Phil Taylor wrote the Point After column about wacky voodoos among fans. Naturally, he talked about the lucky Mets tube socks. (Though, he didn’t give them proper credit as the tube socks were instrumental in giving the Mets a shot in 2008, despite the unfortunate collapse at the end. Besides, he inappropriately grouped me with other whack jobs with their crazy superstitions. My belief is grounded in fact, not myth or witchcraft.)
Now, back to April 13th, 2009. That day, I was faced with the dilemma: tube socks? Or no tube socks? On the one hand, it was an extremely significant game in that the Mets were christening the new ballpark. On the other hand, it was a game in April against the Padres. In reality though, the choice of whether or not to wear the tube socks does not lie with me, rather with the lucky tube socks. They chose not to wear me, and I saw it as an omen that the luck needed to build up for more important games down the stretch.
The Mets lost, but in a fashion emblematic of their entire season, with poor pitching, an error, a balk to allow a run, the whole sha-bang. Are the lucky tube socks to blame for failing to place themselves on my feet? As that game set the tone for the entire year, is there a chance the tube socks are to blame for the Mets disaster in 2009? Am I to blame for not properly understanding when to wear the tube socks?
Ultimately, the lucky tube socks were never worn in 2009. Hopefully, that means there is plenty of luck stored up for 2010.
Pete Lappin (3)
