Too good to be true

I did not expect that a movie about a thief who escapes from prison and lives in a Toys ‘R Us in North Carolina would make me think of my stepfather.

That is exactly what happened, though, when I went to see “Roofman” last weekend. I came away thinking about all the similarities the main character of that film shares with the man who was married to my mom for 11 years, but before I get around to explaining why, I’ve got a confession to make:

I was afraid to say anything earlier this week.

Seriously.

That was actually the first sentence in the newsletter that I prepared on Tuesday:

You did not receive this E-Mail because I did not send it. I did not send this E-Mail because I didn’t want to be the fan-equivalent of the football player so eager to celebrate that he drops the football before actually crossing the plane of the goal line.

From Friday, Oct. 17, through Monday, Oct. 20, we watched:

• The Mariners win three playoff games, including the 15-inning affair that decided the divisional series against Detroit;

• The Huskies come back from an early deficit against Rutgers behind a second-year quarterback who threw for more than 400 yards while rushing for more than 100;

• The Seahawks hold off the Jags and the long hair they play at quarterback.

I’m not ready to say it’s the best weekend I’ve ever had as a sports fan. There was no championship involved. It was, however, the single greatest concentration of sporting success that I’ve experienced as a fan, but I was reluctant to share this for fear I was getting ahead of myself.

So I kept my mouth shut.

For all the good that did.

The Mariners and Blue Jays are now tied 2-2 in the American League Championship Series.

Before the series started, I would have considered this a very positive sign. After all, the last two times Seattle advanced this far in the playoffs, they fell behind 3-1 in the series.

However, I’m having a hard time getting over the fact that not only has Seattle lost the past two games, but those games have been at home. Not only that, but the Mariners were supposed to have a huge edge in starting pitching, and these past two games, they most certainly have not.

Turns out that I’m woefully out of practice when it comes to dealing with the mood swings that are a part of playoff baseball. I wrote about that in this week’s column for The News Tribune:

• Baseball playoffs are not conducive to rational thought

  By Danny O’Neil | The News Tribune

Entering last week’s game at Jacksonville, the single most troubling trend for the Seahawks was the difficulty in holding late leads.

In the first five games, there were three times that the defense was asked to protect a single-score lead late in the fourth quarter. Three times, Seattle allowed a touchdown (though the Seahawks did win one of those games).

Well, in Jacksonville, Seattle’s defense protected a single-score lead on each of the Jaguars’ final three possessions, allowing a combined total of two first downs on those three drives as the Seahawks won 20-12.

The Seahawks are clearly not a bad team. The question now is how good they might actually be and Bob Condotta of The Seattle Times pointed out a few promising statistical indicators.

• Roofman | Starring: Channing Tatum, Kirsten Dunst

  Directed by Derek Cianfrance

Jeff Manchester is a military veteran who remained unerringly polite while committing (multiple) armed robberies.

My stepfather always wore a suit to work, earned a PhD from Gonzaga University and became the superintindent of a public-school district in San Jose, Calif.

But as I watched “Roofman” last Saturday, I was unnerved by the similarities between Manchester (who is played by Channing Tatum) and the man who became my stepfather:

• Both aggressively courted a single mother with multiple kids;

• Both used gifts and grand gestures in building relationships with those women and their children;

• Neither was honest.

There was one notable difference, however, which I placed at the very bottom of the quick checklist I created between the two:

If you want to read more about the actual Roofman, the Charlotte Observer has great coverage of his wild-ass story. If you want to read more about my stepfather, I’m sure I’ll be whining about him again in this space before too long.