Sports Inciter
Garrett Wait
Sports Assistant
Superstitions. Fans and athletes alike are famous for them. Shoot, as I’m writing this column I’ve got my lucky guitar pick in my wallet and my lucky wooden Buddha doll on top of my monitor – you know, to get the creative juices flowing and whatnot. But my superstitions don’t even hold a candle to some I’ve come across as a sports fan.
Many people know about some of the famous athlete superstitions, such as Michael Jordan wearing his old North Carolina shorts under his Bulls uniform for good luck. Some other superstitions become so ingrained in us that they become rules. Fights have nearly broken out because somebody committed the sin of mentioning that a pitcher was tossing up a no-hitter.
But what about the odd superstitions? The ones like Nomar Garciaparra’s fidgety, one-step-from-obsessive-compulsive glove and bat dance before he steps in the batter’s box, or Wade Boggs’ stubborn refusal to eat anything but chicken on game days. These are the gold standards of superstitions for which I’m searching.
Colorado Rockies pitcher Turk Wendell may have the most insane routines of any baseball player ever. He brushes his teeth and chews licorice before every inning. This just seems like mixing two things that really shouldn’t be together. (Like seeing a dream catcher dangling from the rear view of an SUV.)
A few baseball players I’ve known over the years would wear the same pair of socks for every game in a win streak and only wash them after a loss. One guy I know who played second base in high school always had to touch the base before he would touch the ball before an inning.
There’s just too much free time in baseball, so the players always come up with the best superstitions. They don’t touch the lines on the field when they run off the diamond, they don’t clean their batting helmet, they rub the tip of their cap for good luck, and the list continues. I swear if you watch a major league bullpen for nine innings, you could do a lengthy case study on abnormal human behavior.
Baseball players always have interesting superstitions. So it follows that baseball fans would have some good ones, as well.
One San Diegan I know shaved his goatee because the Padres started losing after he grew it. This is the same kid who can’t sit down in the ninth inning for fear of Trevor Hoffman blowing a save. His karma apparently is more important to Hoffman’s success than the pitcher’s actual talent.
Golfers all have their own superstitions. Pepperdine players Michael Baird and J.J. Wood each have set ways in which they mark their ball on the green. Wood will not use a nickel to mark his ball because when he does that he gets a case of the yips. Baird only uses a quarter to mark his ball, and said he has no idea why, but has always done it that way so he’ll continue to spend 25 cents per putt.
The gentleman’s game has other, racier superstitions, but this is a G-rated publication and I would feel bad telling you about what takes place in the clubhouse before a round.
Basketball players are notorious for superstitions at the free throw line. Heck, I was even guilty of having a set routine before each foul shot in high school. The best I’ve ever seen, though, is probably Jason Kidd’s kiss to his family before each attempt.
The foul line isn’t the only place basketball superstitions manifest themselves.
Pepperdine alumnus Doug Christie has made a habit of throwing his hand up in the air to signal to his wife that he is thinking about her. Some call this “superstition,” others call it “whipped.” I say leave the man alone, he simply loves his wife. And who wouldn’t love a woman who would hit Rick Fox in the head with her purse?
I didn’t even get to talk about what people wear underneath their jerseys in football. Some undershirts are so torn up and stained that they should be declared biohazards.
Yes, superstitions are everywhere in the world of sports. Some are tried and true; others are borderline psychotic. But the next time you get up and switch seats in the middle of the game to find the chi your team needs, think about what you’re doing. Will it really help your team?
Now I have to go. I can’t watch the Giants game in this chair.
09-23-2004