Superstition in sports
 06/23/04

In the world of sports, there is a very prominent x-type factor called superstition. It exists in all sports and activities in some way, shape or form.

According to Dr. Richard Lustberg, Ph.D. the superstition creates a confidence inside the player or coach.

Lustberg has two degrees in psychology and has studied the routine superstition of athletes.

“Athletes begin to believe, and want to believe, that their particular routine is enhancing their performance,” said Lustberg.

Let’s start out sighting our favorite baseball superstitions. How about not touching the foul line? How about talking to your bat, or sleeping with it? And certainly we wouldn’t want to touch a base before running off the field, right?

Some may laugh, but some may agree that those are the factors that help teams win.
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 ex-actly 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.

So if we think about these sometimes-ridiculous habitual practices, there are theories that can come from them. For one, we can take all logic and normal scientific reasoning and say these are stupid practices and don’t do a darn thing.

Or we can side with all these nutty quirks and take a belief in the luck of life. Does luck really exist and does superstition keep the stars in line when it comes time for us to succeed?

Perhaps.

Even some local coaches and players get in the act at the high school level.

Assistant varsity basketball coach at Banks, Larry Benson, tries to keep his luck by not washing his socks after wins.

“I never change the socks I wear if we win! I don’t know what it is but the socks stay the same,” he said.

It could be a strong odor defense or even intimidation for opposing teams, not to mention Benson’s booming confidence that his lucky socks are helping make the right calls on the bench.

“I go through a whole ritual and right before I put my hands down in the blocks, it’s the last thing I do (coughing),” said one of the state’s top sprinter’s Kayleen McDowell of Forest Grove High School.

“Our team wouldn’t wash our jerseys until we lost,” said junior Banks basketball and baseball player Tyler Blok, bidding for some more odorous intimidation.

On the flip side both head basketball coaches Tom Ketelsen for Forest Grove and Bob Wismer for Banks agreed that superstition is overrated and unnecessary.

“I have never believed in superstition, it takes the focus off your game. You should play the game through feel instead of emotion,” said Ketelsen.

They say it’s bad luck to say something if a pitcher is on track for a no-hitter. What I’m wondering is what if somebody says it, announces it on the P.A. even and the guy still gets it? Have we defied the laws of superstition?

Again, maybe.

After doing all this research, playing and watching many sports. It has to come down to belief and confidence.

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.

And one might be able to recall Karl Malone asking Ahmad Rashad to not “jinx” him and his team after talking about their success in a title run with the Jazz. Rashad mentioned something in the interview with Malone shying away from the comment. The Jazz lost that year in the finals. I’ll leave it up to you to decide whether it was the jinx or the Bulls that sent them home crying.
Not only have I studied these things, but practiced them in my time as well. I have had many rituals in hopes of retaining or improving my performance.

I would always put my socks on right foot then left, and shoes the same way and still do before basketball games. I used to try and avoid certain lines on the basketball court. If I had a pair of shoes that I tore it up in, then by all means I’d stick with them until they failed me.
So after all this insight, it’s unfortunate we have to come back to the same place we started. Noting that the insight and examples have been fun. This stuff works for whoever wants to use it. And if it’s effective, then more power to you. It is safe to say in the athletic world, success sometimes works in mysterious ways.