I'm afraid I must start this column in a somber tone. My beloved mother passed away suddenly last November. She was an avid baseball fan and all-around Good Person. She used to diligently cut out clippings about the Giants from the local newspaper and send them to me - I still have a box full of them. We could talk baseball for the better part of an hour on the phone, and it's not cheap to California.
People talk about baseball being a bond between fathers and sons, but that's only half the story.
We could talk so easily about baseball that talking about other things became easier. She had this funny superstition. It seemed that every time I was watching a Giants game and she'd come in from watering the lawn or something, the opposition would score. So she would be afraid to watch a crucial game, lest it would hex the Giants. Well, she must be watching them from somewhere, because they ain't doing that good so far.