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Monday, May 2, 2011

Odd superstitions are very prevalent in sports

The line between ritual and superstition is a thin one. As tennis player Rafael Nadal says, “I repeat a lot of things”. Nadal may be the most superstitious athlete of all, although he will fully deny it. Of the many odd rituals he performs before and during matches, one of the most noticeable is the water bottles. Rafeal Nadal, 24, brings only 2 water bottles to a match, with matching labels. After each set, he takes a sip from each of them, and then lines them up side by side with the labels facing the baseline of the side he is playing. It is said to drive opponents crazy, but that’s not why he does it. In fact, he doesn’t quite know why he does it. Whatever the reason, it has helped propel him to the top of the rankings in the world of tennis, and he is not the only one who can thank a strange ritual for being a part of their success, however large or small that part may be.


Possible explanations
            The big question when it comes to superstition is obvious: why do people do the things they do? There are a few different theories to look at. Skinner, a psychologist whose studies are often used by doctors today, said that superstition can arise from conditioning, which he found to be evident in his “pigeon experiment.” What Skinner would do was feed pigeons at irregular times, so they could not predictwhen they would be fed from day to day. The results showed that the pigeons would do whatever behavior they were doing whenever they received the food, each time they were fed. If a bird was turning its head the last time it was fed, it would turn its head the next time it was being fed. Skinner said, “The bird behaves as if there were a causal relation between its behavior and the presentation of food.”
            Another theory as interesting as the pigeon theory is the “just world theory” which basically states that people believe that the world is truly a fair place and that people tend to get what they deserve. This means that by performing a superstitious ritual, they believe that chance plays no part and that only a direct relationship between behavior and consequences exists. This may be the reason that superstitions are so prevalent in competitive sports, because sports are supposed to be fair. If everything is fair, then having the “right” ritual gives one player the competitive advantage over the other player who is performing the “wrong” ritual. Chance or luck plays no part in the result.
            There seems to be two different methods to superstitions within sports: you either want to bring good luck, or you want to avoid a jinx. For example, wearing a specific item of clothing or doing a specific ritual before or during the game would be a good luck method. Contrarily, not wearing a certain color or avoiding something before or during a game would be the “don’t jinx” method. There seems to be a correlation between these methods and the level of uncertainty in the competition. If the level of uncertainty is high, usually the rituals are done to bring good luck before a game. If the level of uncertainty is low, meaning you are facing an opponent that doesn’t particularly threaten you, good luck isn’t as necessary, but you still want to avoid any jinxes. 
           
More than good luck
 Some rituals are not only accepted, but in some sports they are encouraged. Every basketball coach I have ever talked to encourages their players to have a “routine” when they are at the free-throw line. Some players bounce the ball a few times, some players spin the ball, and some even put the ball behind their back or blow a kiss to the rim. Each player, though, does exactly what they did the time before and will not change their routine. The reason that coaches encourage this ritual behavior is because it is supposed to be relaxing. By doing something that is familiar, something you’ve done hundreds of times before, it can have a calming effect in crucial games that may cause a player to become nervous. Reggie Evans, Metro State basketball player, said “It would just be weird not to do it. I’ve been doing the same thing since I was little.” It seems as though some superstitions aren’t believed to bring superpowers to the performer, but rather just to put that player’s mind at ease.
            This may be the reason that Rafael Nadal lines up his water bottles the same way, or holds three tennis balls before each serve, eventually choosing one to serve and dropping the other two, or the reason he wont allow his parents to show up to a tournament before the semi-finals. Maybe it just puts his mind at ease so he can focus on the task at hand. Nadal claims that he is not superstitious, just ritualistic. Many people would respond to that by saying, “what’s the difference?’ The difference doesn’t seem to be much,
            As they cut to a commercial break during the French Open in 2008, the cameras hung on a tired Rafael Nadal as he came to the sideline between sets. As the water boy, who usually is responsible for bringing the players towels and water during a match, reaches to retrieve one of Rafa’s sacred water bottles, the Spanish tennis star calmly says “No toque el agua.” Translation: “Don’t touch the water.” Maybe these rituals work, maybe they are arbitrary and pointless. Whatever Nadal has been doing is working, as he is one of best, world renowned tennis players in the world today. I’m sure there are more than a few people who have started lining their water bottles up the way Rafael Nadal does.

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