Strange superstitions in sports

Sport is strange and one strange aspect of it is superstition. Almost all of us have some freaky superstition; it may be wearing a particular shirt or eating something specific before a match. I have had my share of such superstitions! They exist in all sports but being Indian, the two most followed sports are cricket and football, so I will deal with some superstitions I have seen and practiced, or my friends did.

1. Staying locked up in a room:

It was the ICC cricket Word Cup 2011 final. We tried to get tickets but you know how it is sometimes. We were at my grandmothers, watching the match on TV. Now you know very well that Sri Lanka gave us a rather hefty scare during that match; so there was a point when I said ‘oh no! India are in dire straits!’ My aunt had a nervous bladder, so as soon as she went to the bathroom, there was a spectacular boundary! It continued for a while, this system. Whenever my aunt would go to the lavatory, we had a boundary. Then we started ushering her to the toilet almost every over, and believe it or not, whenever she went, there was a boundary! That is one superstition that I am happy worked well.

2. Not watching the game, so my team will win?

Another superstition is one my friend suffers from, which is the phobia of watching Barcelona matches, because he says that this season, every match he has watched is either a loss or a draw. He watched the Barcelona-Celtic match, the Barcelona-Real Sociedad match, the Barcelona-Malaga match. He didn’t watch others due to work. Recently I convinced him to watch the Classico, and it was a draw. Now I have to listen to his swears, for he claims he is a jinx and that for the sake of the club, he must not watch any matches. It’s indeed a pity given the matches we are winning, but football is a funny game. No club in invincible, losses happen.

3. Eating my way to a win:

The third is again one by a friend, who believes that if we hog out on Biryani on the night of an El Classico, things go in favor of our club Barcelona. That is one delicious superstition! I can’t say anything about its effectiveness; there are many times we pigged out and still lost the match, and times where Biryani was not made, and we still won the match. But it is definitely worth watching the match with my friend specially when it’s an El Classico. Coincidentally I missed out last night, and the match was a draw. We used this technique during the FIFA WC final (rooting for Spain of course) and it worked.

These are the top three I know of, and have delighted in, that directly relate to the outcome of a match. I myself believe all of them except the second, but the third one is something I am always glad to believe in regardless of the outcome. Being Indian, superstition is kind of in our blood! Like my jersey, which I consider so lucky for me, I wear only that shirt for all my exams and all major occasions. We all have these superstitions, some grave, some strange and some funny. What strange superstitions do you guys have? I’d be glad to know. As long as you don’t become a naysayer and directly start insulting people, that is.

4. Beat up the Critics

Another popular superstition is we beat up naysayers and critics. It doesn’t help in the match but it gives us a lot of satisfaction because when we win, we are happy and if we lose, we have the satisfaction of knowing we beat up the guy who criticized us. It works for all sports. I didn’t mention it in the top three because it doesn’t seem to have any effect, while the other three actually (or coincidentally) seem to work.