A Superstitious Bunch

Posted by Joey Parker on September 18, 2009

From Wiktionary.org:

Superstition: A belief, not based on human reason or scientific knowledge, that future events may be influenced by one’s behavior in some magical or mystical way.

Sports fans and athletes are a very superstitious bunch. You often hear of a person who has a lucky Jazz t-shirt, or lucky Jazz socks, or rabbit foot, or whatever is necessary for them to influence the outcome of a game. There have also been many stories of athletes who do some pretty crazy things to give themselves luck.

• Former Boston Red Sox star, Wade Boggs was famous for his obsessive superstitions, including writing words on his bats and eating chicken before each game.
• Jason Terry of the Dallas Mavericks wears the uniform shorts of the next team he is playing, to bed, the night before the game with that team.
• Oddball MLB pitcher Turk Wendell went into the locker room to brush his teeth between each inning he pitched.
• Pistol Pete Maravich had to wear his floppy socks every game.

There are also athletes whose behavior teeters between superstition and Obsessive Compulsive Disorder. Examples of this would include Mike Bibby clipping his fingernails while sitting on the bench or Jerry Tarkanian chewing on towels during games he coached.

So, at this point in the blog post, you might expect me to question why fans and athletes are so stupid to think that something they eat or something they wear could POSSIBLY affect the outcome of a game.  But no, that is not the message I want to get across.

The point of this post is to tell the Jazz fans out there to get your act together when it comes to your superstitions! If you have a lucky Jazz hat…WEAR IT! If you have to chew three pieces of Big Red gum from the beginning to the end of every Jazz game…DO IT! If you have to “knock on wood” every time time you even THINK that the Jazz will DEFINITELY win…KNOCK THAT WOOD! (Oh wait…the person who does that Knock on Wood thing is me…)

So in summary, if you have a Utah Jazz-related superstition, make sure you follow through with it. We need all the help we can get. Why leave it up to chance?

I myself am very superstitious at times. I still remember walking from the parking lot into the Delta Center to watch the Jazz take on the Sonics in the 1996 NBA Western Conference Finals. While we were walking, my dad noticed a penny on the ground and told me I’d better pick it up for luck. I didn’t pick the penny up. The Jazz lost the game. That lead to them losing the series. I blame myself.

Of course, if the Jazz had won that series, their award would have been to play the 72-10 Chicago Bulls in the Finals. So, maybe I gave them a break… You’re welcome, Jazz!

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3 Comments

Boondock Saint (Zak) on September 18, 2009 said:

My susperstitions revolve around game-time treats. Games where I have both shrimp and hot wings (and subsequently heartburn) the Jazz always win. Okay so they haven’t always won those games but they are supposed to and I’m sure its because you forgot to knock on wood JOEY!!!! I’m going to blame you too cause I did my part tsk tsk tsk . Now you know why I gain 20 lbs during the season.

jazz fan on September 18, 2009 said:

haha thats funny, yeah i usually make sure i go through a certain door when coming into the building for a jazz game, and i remember once when i didn’t and they lost!! and when they did i was like ohno i didn’t go through the right door!! lol probably not why but anyways…… good post. !!!
go jazz

Joey Parker on September 18, 2009 said:

Bonus Material:

This is the photo I should have suggested for this post: http://proathletesonly.com/news/wp-content/uploads/jason-terry-shorts.jpg

Jason Terry’s superstition requires him to own a pair of shorts for every NBA team. Now that is weird!

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