You hear a lot about superstitions in sports, but some aren't really all they're cracked up to be. I know that sometimes when players say they wear the same clothes during a streak, they leave out the minor detail that they have the clothing washed every night. For instance, I wore the same boxers to baseball practice for an entire fall season in college, but that's only because our equipment manager would wash our stuff each night and return it to our locker the next morning.
↵Well, according to the USA Today and MLIVE, Jim Leyland and hitting coach Lloyd McClendon were sitting in the same, unwashed tighty whities for the duration of the Tigers' 12-game winning streak:
↵"Guys are getting a little uncomfortable standing next to me now," McClendon told USA Today. "They believe they can't be beat. So if this thing keeps going, it can ugly." ↵↵"I will wear these underwear until we lose," Leyland said. "I can tell you that right now. And they will not be washed. And I don't give a (expletive) who knows it."
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If you believe that they actually decided not to include their underwear on their laundry clips after the first or second win of the streak, that's two weeks worth of fromunda and flatulence build up, which I can only imagine is much worse for older gentlemen like Leyland and McClendon.
↵Luckily, for the team's sake, the Tigers' 12-game streak ended Thursday night in Oakland. I mean, a plane ride out west is bad enough without having to inhale the stench wafting from the undergarments of their coaching staff. Now, Leyland and McClendon can put on a fresh pair of panties and the team can focus on popping bottles on Friday night.
↵↵Leyland: "The bad news is we lost. The good news is I can change my underwear. It'll be wonderful. It'll be a celebration."
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