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.
