Before the post on "What Bad Karma?", I had last blogged on September 23rd when the Yankees made the playoffs, but had not clinched home field advantage. Based on my recent experience during the New York Giants 2007/8 Super Bowl run, I felt it was the right thing to do once the Yanks were one of the last 8 teams competing for the World Series. Now we're going to get to what happened on September 25th. On the 26th, Marc and I were going to host our annual JDRF (Type 1 diabetes fundraiser) at the house. A close friend and excellent chef, Wendy Johnson, was in charge of the evening with respect to the menu, cooking, pairings with the wines and general culinary genius.
The 25th also kicked off a 3-game series with the Yankees playing the Red Sox at Yankee Stadium. If the Yankees swept, they would clinch the AL East and most likely home field advantage throughout the playoffs. How does this dinner and the Yankees/Red Sox series tie together? Well, Chef Wendy is a Red Sox fan.
Now I know Wendy is a professional and would do everything in her power to make things go really well for her. As in the Part 1 post, I have a number of friends who are Red Sox fans and we share a passion for baseball despite our respective allegiances. But still. I asked Wendy if she was going to wear her Sox cap during her food prep on Friday, the 25th and on the day of the dinner on Saturday, the 26th. She sighs and said that her cap was stolen. WHAT?!?!
Wendy had been so busy with clients (a good thing in this economy) that she had not had time to get a new one. I felt terrible. This was not one of those dumb pink caps, but a broken in one that Wendy has had for years. I had to think what I could do to help. We have that shared love of baseball, but I was conflicted on what I should do.
So in the spirit of kindness and generosity, I stopped off at a store near Safeco Field that day and picked up a hat for her. She was completely surprised and while I could have put something very minor in the brim of the cap indicating that the Yanks rule (a minor take on the David Ortiz jersey almost being buried in Yankee Stadium), I chose not to. Thought that would negate what will hopefully be good karma for the Yanks.
That being said, I did hope that my good intentions would translate into positive karma for the Yankees! Again, more absurdity in thinking my actions can impact the team but I don't claim to be sane when it comes to cheering for the Yanks or Big Blue.
Before your ask:
- No, I didn't try on the cap before buying to ensure it was the right size for Wendy. I'm not *THAT* nice.
- The Yankees held a charity auction for that David Ortiz jersey mentioned above and raised over $175K for the Jimmy Fund. Yankee haters – Stop hating on Steinbrenner. He does a lot more good than you probably know.
- Yes, the Yankees swept and secured the AL East with homefield advantage.
- We raised over $21,000 for JDRF (matching donations still being counted), which is the most important thing.
Oh – I guess I need to blog about what we served at the dinner. That got caught in the non-jinxing efforts. Oops!
Stay tuned. Yes, there is still more to come.