Ladies and gentlemen, my curse is broken. For years, I’ve carried a large burden on my back, one that haunted me and made my life miserable. You see, every time I attended a Texas Rangers game in person, we lost. Up until last weekend, I could recall two games I’d been to and seen a victory. And yet, I continued to go, hoping each time that it would be the game where things finally turned around, where the team – and my sports karma – got back on track. For years, it never came to fruition. The first game I attended this year made it seem like 2012 would be the same old thing, as we let the Mariners put up double digits and slinked home with another loss.

And then, things changed.

I attended both games last weekend against the Astros, on Saturday – my birthday – with my girlfriend, roommate and his girlfriend, and on Sunday with my girlfriend and my parents. On Saturday, we hit the ballpark early enough for batting practice, and toward the end of the session, my roommate and I were lucky enough to catch a couple of home run balls almost back to back. We were standing at the front row in left field, watching Houston hit terribly, until finally, a player decided to step up the game. Both balls we caught came screaming off the bat, and right into the glove. Perhaps things were taking a turn.

Early in the game Saturday, we found ourselves down by one, then two, then three runs, and the offense was struggling mightily. But, if there’s one thing you can’t do, it’s count out the Ranger offense, and we came back strong en route to an 8-3 victory. I was ecstatic, and it was a great victory. But, I’d seen – albeit rarely – victories before, so I wasn’t convinced my curse had been broken. No, the only thing that would assure it was a thing of the past would be a victory on Sunday as well.

We won our tickets for the game through an online auction hosted by the MLB umpire charity organization, and they ended up being marvelous. A couple of rows to the right of home plate, only about 30 rows back, under an awning, which was perfect, considering the start time for the game was 2:05. In June. In Texas.

Once again, we found ourselves down early, this time by only a run, for much of the opening innings. But in the sixth, Ian Kinsler broke things open with a bases clearing triple that set us on our way to another victory. Oh my goodness, I felt as though my entire life gained new meaning. That weight I mentioned in the first paragraph lifted and I beamed with pride. You see, the Rangers, they’d finally won two games in a row when I attended. They finally were able to overcome all the bad vibes my body hurled at them through the years. I can’t be certain, but I think Ron Washington looked up at me after the game and winked. As if to say, “Come on back, Rob. You’re always welcome here, now.”

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Robert Rich is a media relations and marketing associate at Texas Instruments. He attended the University of Texas at Austin and wrote a column in the Herald-Press for four years. E-mail comments to robert.ray.rich@gmail.com