Superstition, It’s all part of the game

My column published in an August issue of The Madison County Journal. www.mainstreetnews.com

By Dallas Bordon

As a big sports fan, I many goals that I would like to accomplish. One goal has always been touching Howard’s Rock in Clemson’s Death Valley before running down the hill like the players do before each home game. Another goal involved going inside of the Atlanta Braves locker room and dugout before a game. Both of those goals were accomplished several years ago. The meaning of touching a famous rock in Clemson's Death Valley or the 1995 World Champions baseball sign in the Braves clubhouse is what the players do for luck before their games.  Superstitions, like the ones I just mentioned, are all part of sports and the athlete’s rituals used with hopes of bringing good fortune. Playing sports growing up from Little League baseball to college intramural sports, I had my weird superstitions and ways of doing things before the game. Now I sit back and wonder if the dumb things I did like drawing in the dirt before batting or chewing the same flavor of gum in each game, actually gave me some special powers or good luck. No, it’s all just part of a mind game now that I look back on it because if drawing in the dirt with my bat and chewing the same flavor of gum was all that powerful, I would have eventually received a college baseball scholarship somewhere right? There were no special powers in that dirt or gum.

On one fall day, I touched Howard’s Rock in Clemson’s Death Valley, took a deep breath, and away I went down the hill. I really didn’t feel any special powers. What I did experience, was a near bone breaking experience as I tumbled halfway down. Thank God the stadium was empty and no one was around to see my version of “stop, drop, and roll.”

I got to walk down the tunnel at Turner Field and touch the 1995 World Champion sign like the Braves do before entering the field. I felt no special powers doing that either. What I almost got was a trip to the Braves first aid training facility after nearing getting hit in the head with a batting practice foul ball while walking through the Braves dugout. Thank God for a famous voice from legendary manager Bobby Cox and his “Heads up” yell to me, otherwise I would have received a “KO.”

While neither of my entrances into these two arenas was for playing purposes of course, I still somehow missed the magical feelings that many of the players feel after going those rituals. I was excited being there, but I experienced just the opposite. So I raise the question; do those superstitious powers really help in sports? We’ve all heard of the different rituals that players go through; some disgusting and some as simple as not stepping on the foul line when running onto the field.

For me in Little League, aside from drawing in the dirt and chewing the same flavor gum each time, wearing a batting glove with two of the fingers from the glove missing was a charm. For some major leaguers like Vladimir Guerrero, having players spit on his batting helmet and then rubbing extra pine tar on top gave him extra luck. Former Boston Red Sox Nomar Garciaparra, known as the human rain delay, would step out of the batters’ box after each pitch to adjust his sweatbands and batting gloves giving him an extra feeling of comfort or power. Major League pitcher Turk Wendell had several superstitions to help his psyche during games.  Wendell would brush his teeth between innings. I don’t know about power in teeth brushing but I’m sure he has very clean teeth. He even wore a necklace that consisted of teeth from animals he killed. Players put their uniforms on the same way each time hoping that superstition would bring luck. Caron Butler of the National Basketball Association always drinks Mountain Dew from a two liter bottle before each game. And then there was my favorite former Detroit Tiger Mark Fidrych who would talk to the baseball telling it where to cross the plate. He would also build mounds of dirt on the pitcher’s mound.

Superstitions and the hope that they bring luck is all part of sports.  So next time when at Raider Field, if you see softball coach Doug Kesler rubbing the head of a redheaded kid before games or you see football coach Chris Smith chewing blades of grass while coaching, remember that superstitions are all part of the game.