October 28, 2000

Athletic Rituals

I am here to defend the athletes against the accusation of rampant superstition. People can very easily follow the arguments that Stuart Vyse puts forth in Believing in Magic, and without hearing the other side, they may never realize that many of the "superstitious" rituals in sports actually serve real purposes. The distinction is important. Vyse must make sure that what he attacks really are superstitions if he is going to explore and explain superstition adequately.

Mr. Vyse is mistaken about the purpose of many "superstitious" actions of athletes. A team cheer or stacked hands is not "believed to bring good luck" directly; it is a matter of promoting team unity, which is vital to success in basketball (29). The team needs to trust each other and affirm their faith in one another so that on the court they will be willing to pass the ball and remember to work for the good of the team instead of their own personal goals. Most often we shout a cheer related to some integral aspect of the game - "defense," perhaps, when there is 10 seconds left on the clock, or "together" to remind players that teamwork wins games. Senior year of high school, our motto was "all the way," and we would shout that phrase before the game to remind us of our long-term goal to go all the way to the state championship.

Basketball players do not believe that "slapping the hand of the scorer" and other such actions cause better playing. They are simply congratulating the scorer for contributing to the team, which serves as positive reinforcement. "Talking it up" on the court also serves a purpose; players communicate positions and make sure everyone is aware of situations. Talking on the court also strengthens team unity, "pumps up" the players, and helps intimidate the other team.

Other rituals, too, serve a real function in basketball. Scoring the first basket boosts confidence, sets the pace for the game, and demoralizes the opposing team. Though making the last basket in warm-ups is admittedly more of a good luck move, both of these actions bolster team spirit. Though outsiders see sports as mainly physical, those on the inside know that in a well-matched competition, mental toughness, concentration, and breaking down the opponent is the key to success.

In a world of uncertainty, good athletes try to eliminate as many variables as possible. So many factors can affect a free throw shot, for instance, that a player must develop a ritual to follow when going to the line. In a game, I get the ball from the referee, step up to the line, dribble twice while shifting my weight back-and-forth. I breath at the same pace each time, such that when I bend my legs and I am about to shoot, I have just breathed in and then held it for a moment. I look at the front of the basket and think about going straight up and over the rim as I shoot. I do not think about this system every time a shoot a free throw; it is second nature by now. It enables me to go up to the line in a strange gym with a noisy crowd or to be flustered and tired and still execute a good shot. No one thinks that bouncing the ball twice is the magical formula to make my shot go in. However, I can concentrate on the task at hand because it is so familiar to me and I execute it in the same way each time as much as possible.

The problem comes when players are limited by the rituals they follow, which is the point I think Vyse is trying to make. Wade Boggs, for example, believes he needs chicken to play baseball. He would feel incapacitated if for some reason he could not eat chicken on a certain game day. Chicken may fill him up without slowing him down, but he must realize that there are other foods that could have the same effect. If he will not eat another similar food to help his game, then he is superstitious about eating chicken. Runners who eat a lot of pasta the night before a long race, however, are "putting their faith" in pasta, they are simply carbo-loading to give them the necessary energy, which is a viable reason for always eating pasta the night before a track meet.

Some rituals of athletes really are mostly superstitious. Wearing a lucky charm or item of clothing is the main example that Vyse uses in regards to basketball players. Lucky charms are, of course, just based on luck, just like Wade Boggs never stepping on the foul line when coming to bat, so they fall into the category of superstitions. As far as clothing, if a pair of socks is very comfortable, then there could be a viable reason to wear them to every game. Wearing them simply because the last game turned out well with them is superstition. Shoes are a different issue, because they are broken in and mold better to one’s feet. A pair of shoes can physically affect one’s game, so wearing a certain pair of shoes every time (as long as one does not cling to the shoes when their time is past) is not superstitious.

As far as general attire, presentation matters in the business world and in the rest of society, so Vyse cannot argue point blank that athletes dressing in a certain way is irrelevant to the game. A well-dressed team connotes well-prepared, well-organized players. For male basketball players, such a large part of the game is derived from streetball nowadays that dressing sloppily is meant to mimic the naturally talented players found in the neighborhoods. Since so much of the game is mental, players feeling well-organized and/or talented (and giving off that air to the opposition) can actually affect the game, though not at all to the extent that wearing the clothes makes a team win (which is completely superstitious).

In the end, athletic rituals are not just superstitious if they have something to do with the actual game. When so much is uncertain, athletes need to be able to concentrate on the most important aspects and leave all else to habit, which is most easily formed by following the same ritual every time. As long as the rituals help the player mentally or physically, they are worth retaining. Rituals taken to extremes however, are superstitious, especially when followed to the point that the players believe the rituals determine the outcome of the competition; these rituals are superstitious even though most of them used reasonably are based on some truth.