Sports are amazing. Sports are entertaining. Sports are weird.
That's right, I said sports are weird. Maybe it's not the sport in and of itself that's weird, but sports can make us weird. We will do, say, and wear the strangest things if we think it'll lead us to victory.
Some routines are iconic such as Tiger Woods wearing red on championship Sundays. Some good luck charms are legendary such as Michael Jordan wearing his North Carolina practice shorts under his Bulls jersey. While other good luck omens are just weird--such as the golden thong of the NY Yankees.
While there's good luck superstitions and charms, the sports world also offers the opposite end of the spectrum...so called "curses." "The Curse of the Billy Goat" is the famous fable that the owner of The Billy Goat Tavern in Chicago, Billy Sianis and his pet goat, Murphy, were not allowed to enter the Cubs World Series game in 1945. On his way out, he said (as well as wrote in a message to the owner) that the Cubs would never win a World Series again. The Cubs were unable to break this "curse" until 2016. Further, "The Curse of the Bambino" plagued the Boston Red Sox for 86 years as they went championship-less after giving Babe Ruth to the NY Yankees.
So whether it's a necessary routine, good luck charm, or superstition--each has a place in the world of sports. Now, I want to share some of my own sports routines as well as some others from friends of mine via the twitter-universe.
Pictured above is young Tierani about to play in the state tournament. I played basketball my entire life, and although I was never particularly superstitious; I had my moments. As a young child, proably around 8, I played a game with my hair in a bun for the first time--and ended up having a very high scoring game. Believing it was "the power of the bun," I kept my hair in a bun for many games following...that lasted until I had a bad game with the "magical" bun. After that, back to ponytails only.
As a sophomore, for the half year I was at my first school, I would go to Burger King before every game to get chicken fries and an icee (#Health), that is, until The King got rid of chicken fries...talk about distraught.
Music was another way I got my mind right before a game, and I know many others I talked to were music-driven as well. I had three songs I distinctly remember having to listen to before games: Strong Enough by Matthew West, Light 'Em up by Fall Out Boy, and Winner by Jamie Foxx.
The final routine that lasted me the entirety of my career was that around the 90 second mark during warm-ups, I started to shoot for my "last shot." Once I made a shot that felt good and looked good (swish only), I walked back to my bench to prepare for the start of the game. I had to have that shooting "feel" before I was truly ready. Occasionally, I could not get that "feel" so I had to result in a lay-up...but the main rule was that I had to see the ball go through the hoop before I was mentally ready to play (my father-in-law also had this rule for basketball).
For my mom, before every basketball game she had to have a Dr. Pepper and a snickers...I guess being a health nut runs in the family (ha!). But don't let that diet fool you, my mom was a baller.
My husband, Chad, also had certain routines for both football and golf. In golf, he never hit a shot with a tee in his front pockets (and still doesn't). Also, he always marks his ball with a quarter where the head is in line with the start of his line for putts. For football, he always had to be the last one to run out of the tunnel onto the field, AND he had to throw 11 passes (11 was his number) before running onto the field for the first series.
On twitter, Courtney (@ces_reddirtgirl) said when she played softball she always wore glitter on her eyes. However, with roller derby she wore eye black and red lipstick. (Courtney is pictured below for roller derby and in her yellow softball jersey)
Terry (@TerryButler61) and his best friend would hit each other's football pads 5 times then do a special handshake before putting on their football jerseys in high school. Matt (@SoonerStateUmp) also had a similar physical pre-game routine with his brother in which they always head-butted each other before taking the field.
BW (@widget_brian) had to start with the left of everything when getting ready: left arm through the left jersey sleeve, left leg through the left pant leg, left sock and shoe before the right. The opposite was true for Chey (@SoonerChey), as she would put on her gear right first then left. She also had to listen to Coach Gaines speech on being perfect from Friday Night Lights before she left the locker room. (Chey is pictured below playing softball as well)
Meanwhile, Joey (@The556Menace) never played football with socks on (seems like a sure way to get blisters to me!). On the other hand, @copwarrior4 never washed his football socks (W.H.A.T), and Fred (@sawyerJim5) didn't wash his baseball pants during a 10-game winning streak.
Tracy (@tracytrips1), Meaghan (@Deja_Entendu), and Andrew (@andrew_kalman) had similar ideas regarding "good luck items." Tracy would, impressively, use the same ponytail holder every season. Meaghan used the same sunglasses for every tennis match. Also, no matter the weather, Andrew always wore Under Armor sleeves while catching as he felt like he blocked better with sleeves on. (Andrew pictured below)
A racing superstition I was informed about by @catdadboomer95 was that his dad and the other drivers never put their helmets upside down because they believed it would have caused them to roll over during a race. I definitely would not want to risk breaking this one.
Llamasnation (@llamasquad27) took an untraditional route and would go to his coach's office before every soccer game and "steal" a gatorade from his fridge. It wasn't until later that he found out the gatorades were always free to players and he didn't have to "steal" them.
Lindsey (@lindseyinok) was a collegiate diver and thrived on routines that she HAD to do before diving. She had to make sure no water was dripping anywhere before diving (which I assume is a very hard task in a water sport). She said she wanted to make sure she was completely dry before the next dive because feeling water dripping down your body before your dive was extremely distracting. Also, in her head she had to count down "one, two, ready, go" before her turn. She knew when she got to "go" that she had to go, no matter what. (pictured below)
Cam (@CamMichael59) was a bull rider for 10 years. Before his turn on the bull, he would visualize the ride over and over then say a prayer before entering the chute. I think saying a prayer was smart because bull-riding is NO JOKE--they willingly put their bodies in danger. Tip of the hat to those men because I could NEVER. (pictured below)
"Gato Negro" AKA @SoonerGil boxed for 13 years and before every fight, he had to be in solitude. He didn't want to talk to or be around anyone in order to focus on his upcoming battle. I pity the fool who got in his way during his pre-match routine. (pictured below)
Many other people were like me and opted for certain fast foods before games--shout out to all my fellow health freaks. I suppose in order to kill the nerves with acid, some athletes always vomited before their games, or in the case of my dad--he threw up before MY games. Further, some athletes chose the traditional approach and did not step on certain lines before their competitions such as baseball/softball chalk lines or tennis baselines.
Whether you choose to believe that anything we do, say, or wear really affects the outcome of a game is up to you. But, to many people...these charms, superstitions, routines, and even curses are real. As I said in the beginning, sports--and athletes--are weird.
Alexa, play "Superstition" by Stevie Wonder.
"I can do all this through him who gives me strength."-Phillippians 4:13
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