Superstition in sports
2 August 2008 by Stardust
So many humans are superstitious, and even when they know they are behaving irrationally, they still cling to certain beliefs and superstitions and think they can control their luck. I have just read this story about superstition in China warning people to wear an ox pendant to ward off bad karma at the Olympics. I found some interesting information while surfing around the internet concerning superstition in sports and how they effect players and fans alike.
Turk Wendell a former Cubs and Mets reliever use to brush his teeth and chew licorice between every inning to perhaps enhance his taste and performance for each pitch.
Former Red Sox and Yankees’ player Wade Boggs was often referred to as the “Chicken Man” because he ate chicken habitually before every game and would also start wind sprints exactly 16 minutes before each game.
Frank Viola, a three-time MLB all-star and former Cy Young winner had a secret to his success on the mound. He would clean the mound before every inning, kicking up dirt exactly four times. However, if something bad happened, he couldn’t do it in repetition of four’s any more, instead he would try three or five.
Even the most talented of players had their own comforting superstitions. Of course, there was Michael Jordan who religiously wore his North Carolina Tarheel shorts underneath his real game shorts.
Red Sox shortstop Nomar Garciaparra gets dressed the same way every day, makes sure to step on each dugout step with both feet, and tugs at his batting gloves and taps his toes during each at-bat. Do superstitions give athlete a perfomance edge?
Elizabeth Quinn at About.com writes:
Superstition is generally something that is initially developed in hindsight, almost by accident and then required in future events. A superstition arises when an athlete has a particularly good (or bad) performance and then tries to establish “cause and effect” by reviewing the facts of the day. They will notice things like what they ate or wore and they’ll notice anything unusual that happened such as getting a haircut, receiving a gift or hearing a certain song. If they have a great performance they attribute their success to that unusual circumstance and attempt to recreate it before every competition.
Perhaps the real value in superstition and ritual is the boost of confidence and the sense of control that they provide an athlete. If you believe that doing a specific action or behavior will make you perform better, then you probably will perform better. This is the foundation of sports psychology. Many athletes use rituals such as visualization or guided imagery, to recreate a particularly successful race and experience the feelings they had then as though they are happening now. This recall and visualization prepares them both mentally and physically for competition.
So, maybe religion works the same way in people who want to believe that prayers work, or talking to their gods, saints, or when they think that people are praying for them that things will be good in their lives. The beliefs keep them afloat. Psychologically, is this a good thing? For many, maybe it is because some just can’t get through life thinking they are on their own. So many do not have the faith in themselves to accomplish even everyday things or to reach their goals on their own accord.
It’s also comforting for many people to believe that something greater is in control of their lives, whether it be some invisible omniscient being, or some magical ritual they themselves perform. Human beings are quite inventive with their coping devices they create for themselves.
Though most of you who visit here have given up, or have never had god beliefs, do you still cling to some sort of superstitious thinking?
2 August 2008, on 3:34 pm
Identification of cause-and-effect relationships is important to learning and intelligence. The trick is identifying real ones. Superstitions are clearly incorrect, while an athlete’s visualization may very well help performance. Certainly techinique does affect performance, and if you can duplicate a previously successful technique, then you’ll perform better. I’ve found this to work with “concentration” sports like billiards and darts (both very repetitive,) and I imagine it works for things like golf.
As far as religion, I’ve known people who thought of their religion the same way many people think of their superstitions. They did it because they were comfortable with it, but readily admitted that there was nothing there, no real cause to go with the effect. It just made them “feel better.”
3 August 2008, on 11:42 am
I saw a commercial yesterday. A little boy is practicing hitting a baseball by himself.
He stands at the plate, holding the ball, and yells, “I’m the greatest hitter in the world!”
Then he tosses the ball up, swing and a miss. “Strike one” he says.
Holding ball again, he yells, “I’m the greatest hitter in the world!”
Ball toss, swing, whiff. “Strike two” he says.
Undaunted, he picks the ball up and repeats, “I’m the greatest hitter in the world!”
(It takes longer to watch the ball come down this time and you’re really hoping he gets part of the bat on it.)
Swing and a miss.
“Strike three.” Says the kid.
He picks up the ball and looks at it thoughtfully, then yells, “I’m the greatest pitcher in the world!”
3 August 2008, on 12:52 pm
Karen, I haven’t seen that one. Funny!
I know someone who can only play golf if they have their 30-year-old glove. My husband has an old towel that someone gave him years ago to wipe his bowling ball off with before he throws it. I don’t know if it is superstition or just habit, but he has to have it.
My daughter is a professional trumpet player and she has seen many superstitions in the music world. People who have little trinkets etc. One guy had a little clip-on koala bear in his music case that he would clip on his stand during performances, and practically had a breakdown when someone stole it for a prank and took photos of it all over Philadelphia and finally they gave it back to him, much to his relief. Maybe ChuckA has some other stories about superstition in the music world?
3 August 2008, on 2:21 pm
Stardust
Yeah, It was funny and uplifting. The word OPTIMISM came across the screen at the end, but I was just thinking “What a great attitude!” that I didn’t pay attention to who the sponsor was. I don’t even know what I was watching. I was kinda blankly staring at the TV, revving down from a day at the beach with a friend and 10–count ‘em, TEN kids! And I was feeling quite crispy, despite generous latherings of sunscreen.
I don’t really have any superstitions, but I do often say “knock wood” for good luck or hoped-for results, but I’m usually knocking on my head when I say it. I had a friend in my youth, whose mother was insane about you using the same door to exit the house that you used to enter, because she didn’t want any unwanted company, or illness or something. So if we went in the house and went downstairs to play in the basement, we couldn’t go out through the basement door to play on the swings in the backyard. We had to go back upstairs, out the front, and around the house to the back yard. My mom was a spilled salt thrower. Sometimes I’d knock the salt shaker over on purpose, just to see her go through her little act. My dad gave me a lucky rabbit’s foot key chain when I was about eight, and I loved it; it was so soft and feely. Then when I found out it was a real rabbit’s foot, I think I cried for two days. I made my dad swear HE didn’t kill the rabbit, then I put the foot in a little box and stashed it in the back of a drawer.
4 August 2008, on 1:28 pm
Stardust: “Maybe ChuckA has some other stories about superstition in the music world?”
Well…I have no recollection of any obvious superstitious behaviors of fellow musicians. As a ‘type’, the ones I worked with tended to be very private, about religion or, especially, any strange(er) superstitious ‘beliefs’ they may have had.; portraying themselves as “very Professional”, as it were. Personally, I tended to sometimes, almost purposely make fun of the typical superstitions, like having had two favorite, very much loved, black cats; as well as occasionally opening umbrellas indoors, jokingly walking under ladders, etc. Then again, especially at earlier instances in my musical life, I was more concerned about satisfying my booze, and other addictions! I suppose erroneously…even subconsciously…thinking I performed better after having a few ‘tastes’ under my belt, could be considered a sort of superstition; but, for the most part, I spent absolutely no time worrying about that possibility!
I’m reminded, in my jabbering here, of an old favorite Lambert, Hendricks and Ross ’60s Jazz tune:
“Gimme That Wine…(unhand that bottle!)…” For those “uninitiated”?:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HHKTG0ngRpQ
And…that leads me, of course, to that alltime Bebop vocal classic, by the original (and delightful) performer:
“Annie Ross – Twisted (1959)”
[on an ancient "Playboy at Night"(?) broadcast, no less]
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=StDLnFrbi78&feature=related
4 August 2008, on 1:38 pm
Sorry…Correction…”Playboy at Night” should be…
“Playboy After Dark”
5 August 2008, on 2:21 pm
I fight superstitious behaviour. The most common one is where you don’t leave your seat when the team you like or bet is on a winning drive.
As someone commented on my blog recently, OCD is sometimes seen as superstitious behaviour. The commenter said it isn’t, I think it is, at least partially.