COLUMN: Not superstitious, but I am a little ‘stitious

As I watched Alabama basketball go into the half down 11 to UCLA in the Sweet 16, something clicked in my head — “This bad juju is all on you, and you need to change that.”

As if I was moved by the hand of some mystical deity, I left my couch, went to the closet and pulled out an old Alabama basketball shirt that was shot out of a cannon at me during a game back when I was a student. 

“To be sure, this will get the Tide going,” I thought as I put on the wrinkled-to-death shirt.

Like magic, the Tide began a comeback, and eventually, a last-second three from the unsung Alex Reese forced overtime. I could feel my superstition paying off! At least that was before UCLA ran us out of the building in overtime, thereby leaving me sulking on my couch and angrily tweeting about missed free throws.

But here is the funny thing: In general, I’m not a superstitious person. I don’t believe in karma or bad luck from breaking a mirror. But when I turn on my TV to watch Alabama — or any of my teams — my logic fails me, and I resort to changing clothes or sitting in a single position for hours as I will my team to victory. 

One time, I was watching a game back home — I believe it was an NC State basketball game — and my mom came into the room to sit and watch with me. Without fail, State started playing poorly. With a single glance to my mom — who looked straight into my eye — she got up and laughingly uttered, “I know, I know, I’ll go,” before returning to her chair in the back. She knew, without me uttering a single word, that she had brought the bad mojo.

I’m not alone in this obnoxiously hilarious level of superstition. Cue my friend Nate Marrero — who freelances for the Observer — a good guy, despite his terrible taste in New York City-based teams.

“The Giants were playing the Bucs — it was Daniel Jones’ first NFL start — and the first half was horrible, they were down 28-10 at halftime,” Marrero said. “My dad was on the couch watching, and he fell asleep at halftime, and then the Giants started coming back. It’s 31-25 Bucs, and then the Giants scored to take the lead. My dad wakes up — ‘Oh, what’s going on?’ — and I go, ‘The Giants took the lead.’

“Then the Bucs get the ball back, they drive down into field goal range — it should be a chip shot — and he goes and stands up to watch it,” he said. “I was like, ‘What the heck are you doing? Put your butt back down and lie down — they just came all the way back while you were sleeping.’ He goes and lies back down, and the Bucs end up missing the game-winning field goal. The Giants end up winning by one.”

As if the hilarity of us sports fans jumping through hoops to attain blessings from the sports gods wasn’t enough, that same level of superstition is matched — or probably surpassed — by athletes and coaches who actually compete. 

A perfect example of that high level of superstition is a thing with which Dr. Phillips volleyball coach — and all-around good person — Emily Loftus is familiar. As a player, she had her routines, and even now as a coach, she remains superstitious in a few different ways.

“I remember I had to do a certain handshake, with a certain teammate, in a certain order — if I messed that up, we were losing the game, completely losing the game,” Loftus said. “As a coach, I’m very superstitious — I will only wear heels to volleyball games. If I don’t wear heels to a game, I feel like we are going to lose a game. But what is funny is when I was superstitious as a player, I can see that in my girls now.”

Loftus said volleyball players are an incredibly superstitious lot and noted the quirks of junior Skias Hainline, who has to do a certain handshake with certain players, in a certain order and does said handshake with coaches last. Hainline also has to spin the ball three times in her hand before she tosses for her serve, and always has to warm up before games on the farthest left side of the group — she even will move her teammates around so she can be on that side, Loftus said.

I’m sure there is some sort of fancy psychological science behind why sports make some people just lose all ability to logically think. But honestly, it’s just fun just going with it. 

And sure, it may be utterly ridiculous to have a lucky hat that you haven’t washed in 20 years — which I most definitely do — or a need to sit awkwardly for hours on end with no bathroom break. But just remember the one simple truth of sports superstition: It’s only stupid if it doesn’t work.