Wednesday, May 27, 2009

Pre-game rituals and superstitions in our society

Illustration By Mike Curti

via USA Hockey

                     By Dave Stancliff
   It wasn’t unusual for me to throw up before game time when I was a freshman playing football. I was never sure if it was out of pure terror, or it was a good omen and I would run faster.
   Years later I read that Kareem Abdul Jabbar use to throw up before games because he was nervous. Anyone who ever watched him play however, would never have guessed it. He always seemed calm and in control on the court.
   When my Father and I watch the thoroughbred race horses, he always looks for the one who relieves itself in the paddock area while being shown off before the race. This ritual, he firmly believes, is a good sign.
    I was never much for rituals. Routine has always bored me. I have known some interesting people whose rituals were, to put it mildly, kinda crazy. One such person was in my squad in Vietnam. Every morning when he woke up the first thing he did was sharpen his (non-regulation) hunting knife!
   Guys would be washing their faces, shaving, drinking coffee, and other normal things while he sat cross-legged on the ground and carefully slid the whetstone over the razor sharp edges. You could call it his morning ritual.
  Baseball legend Wade Boggs, who played third base for the Boston Red Sox, always made sure to eat chicken before each game. He also wrote the Hebrew word “Chai” meaning “living” in the dirt before each at bat.
   Some athletes think that any sexual activity before an athletic event will hurt their performance. Mohammed Ali, thought that “when you don’t get sex for a while, you get mean and angry and it makes you a warrior.”
   He may have had something there. He’s still considered one of the greatest boxers ever. I think that when a person finds a routine that they are comfortable with, they should stick with it. It doesn’t have to make sense, it’s how it makes them feel.
   Karl Malone, basketball Hall of Famer, felt that wearing the same pair of sox for every game during the NBA season, gave him an edge. It might have, if smell counted for anything! Just joking of course, but I’ll bet that pair of socks had to be full of holes by the end of the season.
   According to an article in the Journal of Sports Behavior by Melissa Todd and Chris Brown, rituals and superstitions help “athletes cope with the uncertainty of sports competition.”
   The fear of wearing #13 on one’s uniform is a common superstition among all sports. I think if people believe it will bring bad luck, it will. There’s been exceptions to this superstition like Hall of Famer Dan Marino in football, and hoop legend Wilt Chamberlain.
   Daily rituals for people have always been around. The ancients felt sacrificing animals would bring them good luck. When I was very young, I had a neighbor who sacrificed snails by pouring salt on them. This ritual was usually performed when he was ticked-off with someone.
    As It Stands, I’m not really clear where the separation is between routine and rituals unless it’s when you make little clay figurines and stick pins in them, as opposed to puking before a game!

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