All in the game.

Superstitions in sports are unsurprisingly common. I was talking to a few friends who played sports in high school and each of them told me one of the superstitions they followed. Some of them were sentimental and made sense, while others were just silly habits that slowly turned into “good luck.” See if you can determine which are which.

- Cross Country – My roommate was telling me about how she used to tuck her shoelaces into the back of her shoes during meets. At first, it was for the practicality of keeping her shoelaces completely out of the way, but during one meet she forgot to tuck them in. Coincidentally (or consequently) she did not do very well. After that, she decided to continue tying her shoelaces and tucking them in the same exact way each time she competed, and at her following meet, she placed in the top 10 for the very first time! Now, that’s gotta mean luck.

- Football – I had a few good friends on the football team at my high school who told me about their locker room rituals. Before each home game, the team would gather around and listen to the coach’s pep talk, and then as they walked out, each player would hit (nicely) a jersey that hung above the doorway. The jersey belonged to a player who died a few years earlier and hitting it acknowledged that player and asked for his blessing (or help) during the game.

- Basketball – One of my best friends has a specific pattern of dribbling the ball each time he steps up to the free throw line. Bounce, bounce, spin, bounce, shoot! If he doesn’t follow this exactly, there’s no way the ball will go in!