If M’s stumble, should I can my lucky Keds?

By JANICE PODSADA

Herald Writer

Burn them, bury them or wear them?

My lucky baseball shoes? I give them one more day to make good.

Every time I’ve worn my pair of $29.99 white leather Keds with the red baseball stitching during the playoffs, the Mariners have trounced the opposition … except Wednesday.

Given the loss to the New York Yankees, I asked a number of state and local authorities to step up to the plate and unleash their mojo: Are my shoes still lucky? Do I wear them during today’s game, well do I , punk?

I asked Gov. Gary Locke.

"Friday’s game against New York is so important," Locke said. "I’d test those shoes to make sure they really are lucky. Before the game, quickly see if they bring good luck in investments, love or some other area of life. If they draw good fortune, and the shoes fit, wear them. Unleash the mojo!"

I’m not sure how quickly I can score those kinds of runs, so I asked someone closer to home, Snohomish County Executive Bob Drewel, for advice. With Solomonlike wisdom, he advised a split straight down the middle.

"Just wear one shoe on Friday," Drewel said. "If they win, go to two shoes on Saturday."

But Mr. Drewel, should I wear them during Saturday’s game if the Mariners don’t win today?

"If you continue to wear them, we’ll get rid of you," he said.

Hey, I’m like a lot of other fans who’ve been wearing these shoes, or this T-shirt or that hat since the Mariners became a wildcard pick the last day of the regular season, Sunday, October. 1

If wearing this stuff isn’t good luck, well, at least, it’s saved on soap and water.

Sharon Kocik of Mukilteo isn’t touching her Alex Rodriguez T-shirt until the fat lady sings.

"It won’t be washed until it’s over," Kocik vowed.

And Lynnwood fan Bill Burk, is that the outline of an outfield covering your face?

"Ah, I haven’t shaved, but that doesn’t have to do with the game," said Burk, examining the sweat shirts at the new Mariners Team Store at Alderwood Mall.

Have my shoes lost their touch?

I asked Mickey Gordon, an Oil of Olay representative at the Olay booth at Alderwood Mall why my Keds failed to shine Wednesday.

I hadn’t given the leather enough attention, Gordon told me.

Russ Wieser, owner of All Clogged Up at Alderwood Mall told me if my shoes don’t cross home plate today, he’s got a $16.95 pair of size 5, boy’s blue and green mud boots that I should switch to during the change-up.

"They’re Mariners’ colors, and it’s going to be pretty deep out there on the field," he said.

Detective Rob Cracchiolo of the Mukilteo Police Department, on the other hand, told me to stick by my convictions. Keep wearing them.

"Never change in the middle of something," Cracchiolo said. "By the way, why are you asking me this?"

"Officer," I replied, "I just want to do what’s right."

"Then, I say stick with it. By your wearing the shoes you show that you have confidence in them."

But if my shoes aren’t lucky, don’t throw them in the back of the closet, don’t give them away, don’t toss them, the fans said.

Burn ‘em.

"Don’t even throw them in the garbage," said Josh Wyatt, 17, of Lynnwood. "You don’t want somebody else finding them and wearing them."

If they turn up as smoke on Saturday, what do I wear in their place?

"I think you should wear hip-waders," a colleague said. "This is getting deep."

But someone who knows fashion, Amy Zeiler, assistant manager at the Alderwood Mall Eddie Bauer store, told me: "Buy a pair of blue, snakeskin platform shoes and wear those Saturday."

"Give it some spunk. They’ll get the energy back up," Zeiler said.

If the Yanks win today, and I just can’t bear to torch my shoes, truck driver Andrew Steenberg, working the construction site at Grand and Hewitt avenues in Everett, promised me he and his co-workers would give my lucky Keds a proper burial.

"We’ll get the backhoe and dig a 40-foot hole for them."