Bad Luck Charms

[wildman]

Superstitions run wild in all sports on all levels. To name a few there are race car drivers at Eagle Raceway, just east of Lincoln. That wouldn't let people in the pit area if they wore a certain color, some drivers would eat the same meal every race day. I know some remote control car racers that says painting green on a race car is bad luck. Chipper Jones always puts news articles about him around his shins under his pants for every game. One NHL hockey goalie (I can't remember name) when skating to his net he jumps over every line, as he says it's bad luck if he touches them.

 

Now for the fan aspect it can be fun and little silly. As I do not feel right if my blackshirts flag isn't displayed early in the morning on game day or if i'm not wearing a husker Jersey all day throughout even though I havn't been to a game in over 10 years. I don't think my rituals are superstitous. I just don't feel right if I don't do them.

[Scarlet Overkill]

Awe, c'mon people, I'm not even all that serious about what I said. The truth of the matter is that she wanted to come to the house on one of the two biggest football weekends of the season. She is not a Husker fan and doesn't give two craps about any college football. The heart of the matter is that I want to watch the game, and not have to worry about entertaining someone who's not even going to watch the game with me.

 

She lives 30 miles away. If she was flying in from somewhere, that would be another matter. But, visiting from 30 miles away doesn't really merit having game nights disrupted.

 

But, the conversation here is hilarious. As for my user name... well, that's from that fake commercial about Carl Pelini a few years ago - one of his t-shirt ideas was "Got Carl?".

[huzkerbob]

Are we really having a debate on if superstitions are valid or not?

 

Nope. You better re-read the thread so yo can find out what everyone is really talking about...

[da skers]

Awe, c'mon people, I'm not even all that serious about what I said. The truth of the matter is that she wanted to come to the house on one of the two biggest football weekends of the season. She is not a Husker fan and doesn't give two craps about any college football. The heart of the matter is that I want to watch the game, and not have to worry about entertaining someone who's not even going to watch the game with me.

 

She lives 30 miles away. If she was flying in from somewhere, that would be another matter. But, visiting from 30 miles away doesn't really merit having game nights disrupted.

 

But, the conversation here is hilarious. As for my user name... well, that's from that fake commercial about Carl Pelini a few years ago - one of his t-shirt ideas was "Got Carl?".

 

So what you're really saying is that she's not hot. Right?

[bball_backer]

Awe, c'mon people, I'm not even all that serious about what I said. The truth of the matter is that she wanted to come to the house on one of the two biggest football weekends of the season. She is not a Husker fan and doesn't give two craps about any college football. The heart of the matter is that I want to watch the game, and not have to worry about entertaining someone who's not even going to watch the game with me.

 

She lives 30 miles away. If she was flying in from somewhere, that would be another matter. But, visiting from 30 miles away doesn't really merit having game nights disrupted.

 

But, the conversation here is hilarious. As for my user name... well, that's from that fake commercial about Carl Pelini a few years ago - one of his t-shirt ideas was "Got Carl?".

I had no problem with your post and found it humorous. As I said, we told a guy he can't watch games with us, but like your situation, it's not all that serious, just a joke amongst friends. My problem is with those that want to use professional athletes as an example that superstitions work. Your story is good stuff!

[okaive]

My dad is my worst enemy. If he predicts how the game will end, we usually lose. Can't remember which game, but we were driving to the stadium and he said that we were going to wipe them. Right then I knew we were going to lose and we did. Last year after UT scored their first field goal he said " that will he the last points you get". After we starting losing bad, someone asked WTH. I pointed at my dad and repeated what he said along with "he jinxed us". 5 of them ripped him up.

 

After that he won't predict a game around me. Usually this is for home games since it's the only time we are around each other. I won't call him on away games until after the game is over.

[Ratt Mhule]

I used to be superstitious about sports. Then I turned 12.

+1

 

I get a chuckle from seeing grown adults worrying about stupid superstitious nonsense like this (also astrology, fairytales, chupacabras, fortune tellers, big foots or alien abductions). Being rude to a friend of the family over nonsense like that takes this to entirely different levels of crass.

 

Many pro athletes are superstitious. Scottie Pippen and Dennis Rodman are two that come to mind right away.

They may claim they're superstitious, but when you have a direct impact on the game like that, it's more of a routine and frankly it makes sense because it's helping them get mentally prepared. Very different from a guy sitting on his couch watching the game on tv.

 

You wouldn't think the greatest professional basketball player of all time would rely on superstition, but even Michael Jordan himself was known for a specific quirk. While leading the Chicago Bulls to six NBA championships during his legendary career, the five-time MVP wore his University of North Carolina shorts under his uniform in every game. Jordan led UNC to the NCAA Championships in 1982 and believed the mesh marvels brought him luck. In order to cover his lucky pair, Jordan began wearing longer shorts, which inspired a trend in the NBA

 

While her on-court aggressiveness and competitive nature have given her a reputation as one of the greatest and most feared female tennis players of all time, Serena Williams believes much of her winning ways are the result of closely followed routines. For the 27-year-old, these quirks include bringing her shower sandals to the court, tying her shoelaces a specific way and bouncing the ball five times before her first serve and twice before her second. The three-time Wimbledon champ will even wear the same pair of socks during a tournament run. Williams is so set in her superstitions, she has chalked up major losses to not following her own routine correctly.

Thank you for proving my point. Jordan could have won every one of those games without his UNC shorts on. Serena could have won every one of those matches without her shower sandals. They may call them superstitions, but in reality they are routines that help them get focused on the game. And again, since you seem to have missed the point the first time, you wearing a specific shirt is not a routine getting a player in the right frame of mind, it's your attempt at feeling like you have some kind of control over the game... which you do not.

 

Well, I do not have any rituals I do, but if someone does and they think it helps the team win or not, who cares? Yes it may help the athlete focus on the game, my point was many people are superstitious. Athletes, fans, folks who have regular jobs are even superstitious about things they do. It happens all the time, does that make the person immature?

 

@Dude, it doesn't matter what I think, he thought the shorts helped him play better, so that makes him superstitious. And ask Kobe how he did once Shaq left and before they got Pau Gasol. Did he win any championships without a supporting cast?

[The Dude]

I used to be superstitious about sports. Then I turned 12.

+1

 

I get a chuckle from seeing grown adults worrying about stupid superstitious nonsense like this (also astrology, fairytales, chupacabras, fortune tellers, big foots or alien abductions). Being rude to a friend of the family over nonsense like that takes this to entirely different levels of crass.

 

Many pro athletes are superstitious. Scottie Pippen and Dennis Rodman are two that come to mind right away.

They may claim they're superstitious, but when you have a direct impact on the game like that, it's more of a routine and frankly it makes sense because it's helping them get mentally prepared. Very different from a guy sitting on his couch watching the game on tv.

 

You wouldn't think the greatest professional basketball player of all time would rely on superstition, but even Michael Jordan himself was known for a specific quirk. While leading the Chicago Bulls to six NBA championships during his legendary career, the five-time MVP wore his University of North Carolina shorts under his uniform in every game. Jordan led UNC to the NCAA Championships in 1982 and believed the mesh marvels brought him luck. In order to cover his lucky pair, Jordan began wearing longer shorts, which inspired a trend in the NBA

 

While her on-court aggressiveness and competitive nature have given her a reputation as one of the greatest and most feared female tennis players of all time, Serena Williams believes much of her winning ways are the result of closely followed routines. For the 27-year-old, these quirks include bringing her shower sandals to the court, tying her shoelaces a specific way and bouncing the ball five times before her first serve and twice before her second. The three-time Wimbledon champ will even wear the same pair of socks during a tournament run. Williams is so set in her superstitions, she has chalked up major losses to not following her own routine correctly.

Thank you for proving my point. Jordan could have won every one of those games without his UNC shorts on. Serena could have won every one of those matches without her shower sandals. They may call them superstitions, but in reality they are routines that help them get focused on the game. And again, since you seem to have missed the point the first time, you wearing a specific shirt is not a routine getting a player in the right frame of mind, it's your attempt at feeling like you have some kind of control over the game... which you do not.

 

Well, I do not have any rituals I do, but if someone does and they think it helps the team win or not, who cares? Yes it may help the athlete focus on the game, my point was many people are superstitious. Athletes, fans, folks who have regular jobs are even superstitious about things they do. It happens all the time, does that make the person immature?

 

@Dude, it doesn't matter what I think, he thought the shorts helped him play better, so that makes him superstitious. And ask Kobe how he did once Shaq left and before they got Pau Gasol. Did he win any championships without a supporting cast?

I know I was just joking about the punching yourself thing, btw. Yeah, Jordan was superstitious. That doesn't make it any less asinine.

[papersun87]

I used to be superstitious about sports. Then I turned 12.

Can't be quoted enough.

[GSG]

This thread makes me think of stuff like this:

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SYeRDCWU1HA

 

About :30 mark on this one

 

Or any of the ESPN commercials that say "It's not crazy, it's sports."

[Apathy]

I didn't start being superstitious until Callahan's 3rd year and have done some stupid crap since then that I will not explain in this thread because my rituals were beyond retarded. I do have one that I'll share that I don't find too embarrassing,

 

I referee high school football and when I indicate what down it is especially 2nd down my hand signal looks like the longhorn hook em horn hand signal. Well during the week of the Texas game I would indicate a second down as the peace sign because I refused to us my sually signal that looks like the longhorn hook em horns so I wouldn't jynx the Skers.

 

Well that didn't turn out as expected and have stopped doing stupid superstitious rituals because they're just stupid.

[Enhance]

The only superstition I have is I will not watch Husker football with my friend Josh. He has been at or watched all of the following games with me: Texas '06, Texas '10 and Holiday Bowl '11.