#2814

Athletes and sports fans alike are famous for being superstitious, and baseball is no different. Perhaps you have a little ritual before a game or a playoff series. If you don’t then you know someone who does.

We look for signs. For good luck. Something to give us hope. We’ve taken the liberty of examining portents and omens for you in order to determine how likely the Yankees are of securing Ring 28. We have found a few.



The hashtag Yankee fans need to get trending this season is #2814. For the 28th Championship in 2014. 28 in ‘14. Get it? #2814

The first sign is something many others have thought of; the last time the Yankees missed the playoffs in 2008, they roared back to win it all in 2009. They picked up a few big name free agents in that off season to help them win the trophy. Sounds familiar. Check.



Derek Jeter has been feeling better than he has been in a while. Chances are very good that the Captain is nearing the end of his career. But before he broke his ankle in the 2012 ALCS, he was playing as the young man that led the Yankees to the top in the nineties.

While it’s a stretch to think he could repeat that this season, Jeter is never a player you should count out. If anyone is capable of rallying this team to win it all, it’s him. We’ve seen him do this again and again. The Captain’s will to win is indomitable. It’s certainly probable that the team will rally around Jeter.

Will. Willpower. Okay, here’s where we stretch, but superstition is not based on reason. Sometimes even the most tangentially related things become good luck charms. Rally monkey anyone?



Regular readers remember our piece not long ago playing with the concept of the Yankees as superheroes. Derek Jeter was assigned Green Lantern, as both derive their imaginative plays from their willpower. Green Lantern acquires his power through a ring. Derek Jeter proves his power by acquiring a ring. The parallels are obvious.



Now I won’t bother hiding my nerd card here. Regular readers know I love comic books and video-games as well as baseball. My personal favorite when it comes to superheroes is Green Lantern, just like my personal favorite from the Yankees is Derek Jeter. I have read about them both for years.

That’s how I know Green Lantern is a Yankee fan. We saw him attend a game at Yankee Stadium in Green Lantern: Rebirth #1. But it was during the story Infinite Crisis, he proved his loyalty. With universes colliding; all on the brink of destruction; multiple versions of our planet whirling about a ship carrying the Justice League to a make-or-break gambit to stave off certain death; there was Green Lantern, thinking about Opening Day.



There are many Green Lanterns of course. To be one, all you have to do is be honest and brave. Face your fears and overcome them, and the ring is yours. The galaxies are divided into sectors to be guarded by Green Lanterns. The sector of the universe that contains Earth?

It’s sector #2814.



So I call upon the baseball gods to heed these signs. This article will be released on Saturday, February 8th, 2014. That’s 2/8/14. I wear my Green Lantern ring today, in Sector #2814. I will use the hashtag #2814 however I can. I will combine all these powers to bring luck to the Yankees, however I can. I beseech you to join me.




After all, as the commercial goes, it’s only weird if it doesn’t work.

#2814


 
--Chad R. MacDonald
BYB Features Writer
Facebook: New York Yankees the Home of Champions
My Blog: ChadRants



 Thank you to all the Bleeding Yankee Blue readers for continued success.  You've made BYB the fastest growing Yankees fan site in the history of Yankees fandom.  Thanks for reading, sharing and enjoying. Follow me on Twitter @BleednYankeeBlu and join the group Bleeding Yankee Blue (Official) on Facebook, just type it in.