Its almost synonymous with sports, the idea of superstitious. The way that socks are put on, the way that a jersey is tucked, the choice of heads of tails at a coin flip, almost anything than can be done, can be done wrong.
But it doesn’t have to be necessarily wrong, just, not the same, not the norm of what is expect, or what is routine. Athletes are creatures of habit and when that habit gets disturbed, typically their performance will suffer. Freshman Girl Lacrosse Defender Ashley Melendez can attest to this.
Coming to the realization that she may be more superstitious than she’d previously considered she said “Maybe I am because we have to do what we always do in order to win.”
What is needed to be done to win can range from many things whether it is a certain cheer, in which Melendez states that she needs to say one part or else the team won’t win, or how, “My teammate always has to have her hair braided by her one friend in order to win and its weird because every time she gets it braided by her friend we do win.”
Arguing with results seems to be stupid, because if there’s something that gives an athlete an edge why try to change it? After all it’s not that bad as Junior Communication Studies Major and Men’s Basketball Player Mike Boylan said.
“You’ve got to bite the bullet for your team, a wins a win. A win is more important.”
Boylan’s superstitious nature is of a very specific type though, “I’m not one with foods for superstition. I’m more for clothing or position or what you say.”
Boylan elaborated speaking about how he will ritualistically sit on a chair with his right leg a little further than his left with the chair tilted. Or when entering the court during a possession, what happens situationally may become routine if the team scores a basket when it happens.
Boylan explained, “(it’s) Saying the same words to the same people before every possession so that we get a bucket. I’ll be like, ‘Hey Steve,’ and then I’ll say, ‘What’s up,’ to Matt and then if they score, then they score, and we keep going with something like that.”
The junior communications studies major did draw the line at the point about approach to the court. When asked about if there is a specific way he has to enter the court with a certain foot forward or touch a line he said, “No I’m not that far, I don’t go that far with superstition.”
Whether it’s haircuts or what uniform gets washed, one thing is for sure. Superstitions may not actually prove anything or help at all, but in the immortal words of Stevie Wonder, “When you believe in things that you don’t understand, then you suffer.”