Knock on Wood

“Thirteen-month-old baby, broke the lookin' glass
Seven years of bad luck, the good things in your past
When you believe in things that you don't understand
Then you suffer, superstition ain't the way”

         “Superstition,” Quincy Jones

Recorded by Stevie Wonder, “Superstition” also references fear of walking under ladders.  Karen Russell’s article in New York TimesSunday magazine mentions her father’s nasty habit of throwing salt over his shoulder in restaurants to ward off bad luck.  The derivation of knock on wood comes from ancient Greeks believing that summoning dryads or wood nymphs residing in oak trees would lead to good luck. Amii Stewart had a 1979 hit titled “Knock on Wood” that contained the lyric, “I’m not superstitious about ya, but I can’t take no chance.”   Though I claim not to be superstitious, I sometimes knock on wood when I say something that I don’t want contradicted by subsequent events.  I used to avoid sidewalk cracks and still tend to eat things in multiples of two, whether banana slices on cereal or the number of carrots and small tomatoes I pack for lunch.  Athletes tend to be superstitious in terms of repeating little rituals: witness Serena Williams bouncing a tennis ball exactly 5 times before she serves or Tiger Wood wearing a red shirt on the final round of golf tournaments.

 "The Dryad" by Evelyn De Morgan

Eddie Mush

On TV over the weekend I watched “The Wife” with Glenn Close, about a woman who wrote novels that her Nobel Prize winning husband took credit for, and “A Bronx Tale,” about a kid torn between being attracted to neighborhood Mafia Sonny (Chazz Palminteri) and his straight-arrow dad.  The splendid supporting cast includes Joe Pesci as Carmine and “goodfellas” with such nicknames as Jimmy Whispers, Tony Toupee, Frankie Coffeecake, JoJo the Whale, and Eddie Mush.  The latter, played by Eddie Montanaro, is so unlucky that he gets exiled to the bathroom during a craps game.  When he is found to have bet on Sonny’s horse, Sonny tears up his ticket even though his horse is in the lead but then inevitably fades.  Catholics all, they’d make the sign of the cross for luck and go to confession believing they could wipe the slate clean of past sins.  

Current Jeopardychamp James Holzhauer won a 23rd straight contest and has accumulated winnings totaling close to 2 million dollars.  It took the current record holder more than 3 times that many games to earn such a sum. His exploits have become national headlines. Holzhauer feasts on daily doubles and usually has such a lead by Final Jeopardy that he can wager tens of thousands without fear of being dethroned. and Sports Illustratedeven did a feature on how the sports gambler handicaps events. I knew the answer to the most recent one on the French author who wrote these words: “I am making myself liable to articles 30 and 31 of the law of 29 July 1881 regarding the press, which make libel a punishable offense.”  Answer Emile Zola in “J’accuse,” defending Jewish army officer Alfred Dreyfus, who had been falsely accused of passing on military secrets to the Germans.

The final “Game of Thrones” episode was painful and shocking but upon reflection somewhat predictable in retrospect considering what had transpired the week before, when Dany took out her revenge on King’s Landing.  It was filled with symbolism, from the fair-haired leader betrayed with a kiss (like Judas identifying Jesus to his enemies) to Jon and Arya departing in search of new worlds.  While many people, granddaughter Alissa included, hated the ending, I loved the role that Tyrion the Imp (Peter Drinklage) played in determining who would sit on the Iron Throne, or what was left of it after Drogon poured out his wrath.  The funniest moment was when Samwell Tarly proposed letting the people decide everyone scoffed at the absurdity of the idea; might as well let horses decide, one said.

I’ve been reminiscing with Dave Seibold about our both playing on a junior high football team where you couldn’t weigh more than 105 pounds. Though I barely tipped the scales at 70 pounds, I played center and linebacker on a team coached by an emotional Armenian nicknamed Mr. Bek, whose facial expressions usually conveyed various degrees of disappointment or downright disgust.  We weren’t very good. Playing arch-rival Ambler, I swear the lineman opposite me had a mustache.   In a 6-0 losing effort halfback Dickie Cottom was on his way to score a touchdown only to stop at the five-year-line because he thought he’d crossed in the end zone.  I’ll never forget Bek’s reaction.  On the bus back to Upper Dublin Cottom was inconsolable.  Seibold recalled that Bill McAfee had his teeth knocked out at practice because he was not wearing his mouthguard. On the first day this bully went down the bench punching newcomers and calling them pussies.  I put up an arm to block him and somehow bloodied his nose.  He went running into the locker room, and I scampered after him, not to continue the fight but to apologize and convince him I hadn’t meant it.  It worked; inadvertently and undeservedly, I had gained others’ respect. Playing without glasses, once in punt formation, I snapped the ball to Percy Herder instead of kicker Jimmy Coombs.  Percy quickly flipped it at Coombs, who got off a good punt.  “What was that?”A furious Mr. Bek demanded to know on the sidelines, glaring at me. “Just a trick play we dreamed up,”Coombs replied nonchalantly.

Miller Woods by Samuel A. Love