Rest in Peace, Red the Fish

Today we lost our fish, Red.
My son Aidan named him. He took one look at him and said "He's red. So his name is Red." And how is that less of a creative name than "Sully."

Before the 2010 postseason, I held up a logo of a baseball team on either side of his tank. Whichever side he swam to, I wrote down as his prediction.

He was pretty good.
In fact he predicted EVERY SINGLE post season series correctly until the World Series.
He picked the Rangers to win the World Series.
My wife picked the Giants and won.

Well, now he is gone... flushed to the great unknown.

You were a good fish, Red. We'll miss you. And you were a hell of a lot better at picking playoff series than me.

Rest in peace.

MY WIFE DEFEATS A FISH!!!!

As I wrote before, my wife and my fish both predicted a Giants and Rangers World Series.

My wife knows a little more than my fish, and yesterday she proved it once and for all.

Wifey picked the Giants to win it.
Red the fish picked the Rangers.

And I've never seen my wife more proud than when she reigned supreme over a fish.

I can make fun of wifey half watching the games and my fish swimming around... but my picks sucked.

I bow to the superior baseball intellects.

It's FISH versus WIFE

My playoff predictions this year were off... As they always are. (So much for my Phillies/Tampa Bay rematch.)

I got the predictions of my two kids, my sister in law and a random coin toss. None of us got a Rangers/Giants match up.


Do you know who DID pick the Giants and the Rangers to win the pennant?

MY WIFE, LISA!

(She picked the Giants because inactive left hander Barry Zito does yoga and the Rangers because she likes Friday Night Lights.)

And do you know who else picked the Giants and the Rangers?

MY FISH, RED!

I held up pieces of paper with pictures of the team logos on either end of Red's tank. Which ever direction he swam to, I marked down as his pick.

Well guess what?
ALL OF THE FISH'S PICKS HAVE BEEN RIGHT!

But here's the rub:
My wife picked the Giants to win the World Series.

My fish picked the Rangers to win the World Series.

Lisa is already talking smack... threatening to eat sushi in front of Red if the Giants win.

So now in our household, it has come down to this. Who will reign supreme? Whose skills of prediction will win out.

Will it be my wife?
Or my fish?

I hope it is my wife.
Why?

Because first of all, I am rooting for the Giants.

And secondly, unlike Luca Brasi, I do NOT sleep with the fishes.

How did we do with our picks? (And how did the fish do?)

Before the playoffs began, I made my post season picks… and compared them to the picks of my wife Lisa, my sister in law Debbie, my sons Matty and Aidan, a coin toss and which direction my fish Red swam.

With the Division Series over, let’s see how we all did.

SULLY’S PICKS

PHILLIES over REDS
GIANTS over BRAVES
YANKEES over TWINS
RAYS over RANGERS

3 out of 4



SULLY’S WIFE LISA’S PICKS

REDS over PHILLIES
GIANTS over BRAVES
YANKEES over TWINS
RANGERS over RAYS

3 out of 4


SULLY’S SISTER IN LAW DEBBIE’S PICKS

PHILLIES over REDS
GIANTS over BRAVES
TWINS over YANKEES
RAYS over RANGERS

2 out of 4

SULLY’S 5 YEAR OLD SON AIDAN’S PICKS

REDS over PHILLIES
GIANTS over BRAVES
YANKEES over TWINS
RAYS over RANGERS

2 out of 4



SULLY’S 5 YEAR OLD SON MATTEO’S PICKS

PHILLIES over REDS
GIANTS over BRAVES
TWINS over YANKEES
RANGERS over TWINS

3 out of 4



COIN TOSS RESULTS

PHILLIES over REDS
GIANTS over BRAVES
TWINS over YANKEES
RANGERS over RAYS

3 out of 4

So no perfect ones… except for one…

SULLY’S FISH RED’S PICKS

PHILLIES over REDS
GIANTS over BRAVES
YANKEES over TWINS
RANGERS over RAYS

4 out of 4

That’s right folks… my FISH beat us all!
My FISH made all the right picks.

Do you know how humiliating it is to have your picks beaten by a fish?

To remind you, I held a logo for each team on either side of the tank… and which ever direction he went is where I recorded his pick.

He usually swam this way or that… but when I put the Rays and the Rangers logos up, he paused… then looked up at me and asked “Wait, how many starts is Cliff Lee getting?”

SULLY vs. A FISH

Earlier this month made my picks for the post season series... as did my wife.

When I made MY picks, I compared them to the picks of my kids (who just liked the sounds of certain teams) my sister in law (who was more interested in which players were vegans) a coin flip (always reliable) and my fish, Red.

When Red made his choices, I held up a picture of the logo of each team playing in the series and I saw which direction he swam in.

Well so far each of MY picks have been right.
And so have Red's picks.

We both picked the Yankees... we both picked the Phillies... we both picked the Giants.

But here's the rub.

I picked Tampa Bay over the Rangers.
Red picked the Rangers over Tampa Bay.

So tonight is the rubber game.

Oh yeah, it means a lot to the Rays and Rangers... either a chance to have home field advantage in the ALCS or go home.

But think about it from MY point of view.
This is my chance to pick all four series correctly. Something I haven't done in literally YEARS!

And if I fail, I will have lost to a fish.

It's one thing to lose to the chance of a coin flip, or the silliness of my kids, or the randomness of my wife or sister in law's picks.

But to lose to a fish... it is something I can not bear.

So like Santiago or Quint, I am obsessed defeating a fish.
Is it a healthy?
No.

Is it luck?


"No. I am not ... lucky. I am not lucky anymore."

"The hell with luck," the boy said. "I’ll bring the luck with me."


(That's right, Mo Fo's... I'm quoting Hemmingway.)