Sports are taken very seriously by their athletes and fans, and many will go to any length to ensure a successful outcome. Sometimes, that length is something so outlandish and unconventional, yet somehow, it works…maybe?
Superstitions are pretty common in the sports world, ranging from high school athletics all the way up to the pro leagues. We’ve all heard of the classics like “Fingers Crossed” and “Knock on Wood,” but many people have shaped and created their own superstitions in their own walk of the world.
Rhea Kuriakose is a junior who plays basketball for the JV team. She credits some of her success to her obscure and novel superstition.
“I used to only drink Dr. Pepper, but I would not drink Dr. Pepper on game days and I would be very adamant about that,” Kuriakose said. “I’d have to have at least one Coke before the game and a Sprite after the game.”
Now how do such things come about? How does an obscure idea become a reality?
“I love Dr. Pepper, and I have Dr. Pepper nearly everyday, so I decided that game days should be the one day I don’t drink Dr. Pepper to set it apart,” Kuriakose said. “I did that one day and I didn’t buy a Dr. Pepper; the next game we had one of our best games ever. So now I have to do this forever.”
Although this goes for sports, basketball in Kuriakose’s case, how applicable is this superstition to every day?
“I use them only for game days,” Kuriakose said. “I have some others for tests and things like that, and it’s [things] like what sort of ring I’ll wear that day.”
Sophomore Alexandra Espinosa is a volleyball player who has her own rituals that she feels the need to obey.
“Well, whenever I warm up, I have to do the same amount of steps and things on each side so that one side isn’t outweighing the other,” Espinosa said.
It may seem irrational, but many people often feel the need for things to be perfect or balanced. People want things to be perfect as it is seen as a job well done: especially in sports, a job well done often brings success. One might wonder how one little thing that’s done on the court can gain so much traction.
“I don’t know,” Espinosa said. “I just started feeling heavier on one side so I felt the need to start ‘balancing’ it.”
It is’t clear whether people believe that their own superstitions actually yield the results they believe will come of it.
“I have to take every chance I can to help the team,” Espinosa said.
I use a couple myself, they consist of wearing the same clothes (with proper washing of course), not listening to certain music on a gameday and many more smaller ones. Often these superstitions hold no merit and don’t make anything happen at the end of the day, but allow a sense of comfort in knowing that you can control something in a world where that feeling is scarce.
