Hi everyone, and welcome back! I’d like to start this week with a little feel-good story to set the scene for today’s new article. On Thursday morning, I lost my wedding ring. I noticed it was gone once I returned home from taking the kids to school, and I must have spent close to an hour looking for it under furniture, behind table legs, and beneath toys. I eventually just gave up and figured it would turn up, but I was upset the rest of the day. When I picked up the kids that night, my son was upset that he had misplaced his little tin of Pokemon cards. I replied that he shouldn’t feel so bad, since I couldn’t find my wedding ring. And then my five-year-old daughter uttered a phrase that I never would have expected to hear: “I know where it is!” Whaaaaa? “Where did you see it?” I asked, and she replied that it was in the little front pocket of her backpack. I grabbed her bad and rifled through the pocket and, there it was, my wedding ring. Why it was in the front pocket, I didn’t understand, since I hadn’t put anything in that pocket in days. When we returned home and I told my wife the story, she quickly asked our daughter if she had taken my ring and put it in her bag. Normally, my little one cracks the minute she knows we’ve discovered her lie, but this time, she was very adamant that she hadn’t taken the ring. She said it was in the big pocket of her bag, and that when she found the ring, she put it in the front pocket to not lose it. That’s when I realized the ring must have got caught on the inside of her bag, and slipped off my finger when I was putting in her lunch. I realized how lucky I was to have my wedding ring make a trip to my daughter’s kindergarten class and survive the day. I also realized that my daughter is much more responsible than I ever gave her credit for.

So where am I going with this? I doesn’t really matter if you lose something… there’s always hope that you will find what you’ve lost, and you never really know how you’re going to find it, and under what circumstances. Ted Hampson once lost something during his third season with the Seals. Early in the 1969-70 season, the Seals’ captain had lost his mojo. He had been money in the bank the previous two years, but for some reason when October 1969 hit, he couldn’t find the back of the net, and he couldn’t set up a teammate to do it either. Then all of a sudden one night versus Chicago, Hampson picked up an assist, and everything went right once again. Come April he was leading the team in scoring once again. This week’s article, from Spence Conley of the Oakland Tribune, is all about Hampson (and several other Seals) and their early-season scoring slump, and you can read all about it here.

I hope you all have a great weekend and that you enjoy the quiet before the holiday season officially starts. I’m personally looking forward to spending a wad of cash at the local sports card show with my Pokemon-loving son, and that nothing gets lost in the crowd. Thankfully, I found my wedding ring, and he found his tin of cards, so we’ve got luck on our side, hopefully for at least one more day.

Until next time, stay gold!