My Sports Superstition

At least that’s how I’d define it.

I am a baseball guy. From day one it has always been my favorite sport and always will be my favorite sport. If you know anyone who participates in the sport of baseball the notion of superstition is very real. Baseball players are a very superstitious sort. Look no further than Wade Boggs, Hall of Fame Third Baseman, and the fact that he ate chicken before every game as a barometer of superstition in the sport. If you have a great game and you took a certain route to the ballpark – you’re taking that very same route every day until the streak wears off. It’s a natural practice of most athletes, but I believe baseball players take it to the next level. Even ordinary hacks like me participate. When I played slow pitch softball I would succumb to superstition. I like to blow bubbles while playing so I had a few pieces of Dubble Bubble in my hand as I went out to the outfield one night. I grabbed one too many and didn’t want to throw it away so I stuck it in my sock. I had a great game. Guess what I did for the rest of my softball career (which is now over, in case you’re curious)?

Why am I telling you these stories? Because I also believe superstition can be part of fan behavior. And I am a prime example of that hypothesis. I firmly believe that whether or not I watch a game has a direct impact on the outcome of a game. Now, is that superstition or a strange form of superhuman power over the sports universe? Good question. It doesn’t help that most of the teams that I root for are not winning franchises, i.e. the Chicago Cubs, Bears and the University of Illinois sports teams. I am such a fanatic about my teams that it becomes difficult to watch them without getting upset. As a father of young boys I don’t want my sons to be as emotionally involved in their sports teams as I am. Why? There is a fine line between being a fan and having your self-esteem attached to the record of your favorite sports teams. I can get VERY angry watching my teams when they are losing – and the Chicago Bears took it to a new level for me this year. I want my sons to be fans without over investing emotionally.

Back to superstition – because I get so emotionally invested watching my teams, there are instances where I have to turn the television off so that I do not get upset. I feel it’s better to walk away than have my anger towards my team affect my emotional state in my home life. Funny thing is, after turning the game off my team will turn it around and start playing well and possibly win. Here’s the craziness of it all – I feel like I did my team a favor by not watching them which allowed them to win. I had a direct impact on their victory by not watching. Is that superstition?

Case is point – the 2001 University of Illinois football season. They started off the year with three straight victories, including a defeat of #25 Louisville. Their first conference game was against #17 Michigan at the Big House. They lost. Still unsure of how good this team was they won their next two games over Minnesota and Indiana. Neither of those victories carried much weight since those teams were at the bottom of the league. Still unsure of how good this Illini team was they headed a showdown with Wisconsin the next week. Things were going swimmingly until the 4th quarter when Wisconsin made a run and took the lead. I was obviously distraught and turned off the game thinking that this was just another Illini team that couldn’t quite get over the hump. Luckily, I underestimated the clutch play of Kurt Kittner and Brandon Lloyd. The Fighting Illini came back and won the game 42-35.

The following week Illinois was in West Lafayette facing Purdue. As if being emotionally invested in your team isn’t enough, playing an opponent in the area where you live intensifies the passion of the game. Needless to say, when Purdue jumped out to a 13- lead midway through the second quarter my anger/superstition kicked in and off the TV went. Of course, the Illini responded to my turning off the game by running off 38 straight unanswered points for the 38-13 victory. Hmmm, did the clicking off of my television set make its way to the visiting sidelines at West Lafayette? Did Illinois then tell themselves, “Its ok, Crull’s not watching anymore. No more pressure.”? Clearly that wasn’t the case, but it felt like it to me. Is that superstition or just plain craziness? That, my friends, is the power of sports.

Fast forward to the next week; Illinois is playing Penn State. I wait patiently for Illinois to get behind, which they do, 21-7, at halftime. Click. Illinois comes back to win in the second half. I’m enjoying this self-induced power over Illinois football. The next week, at Ohio State, rinse and repeat. Luckily, the season finale against Northwestern wasn’t close and the Illini won the Big Ten Conference and made it the Sugar Bowl as part of the BCS.

Unfortunately the Sugar Bowl did not turn out like the rest of the year. LSU got up on the Illini quickly and in typical fashion I turned the game off. However, this was not a fairy tale ending. Apparently my powers only worked in the Big Ten season and couldn’t overpower the SEC.

Regardless, I finally decided to look up the word superstition online. The definition is “a widely held but unjustified belief in supernatural causation leading to certain consequences of an action or event, or a practice based on such a belief.” Fairly accurate, no?

And that’s not even my best superstition story… sometime ask me about the 2005 NCAA Tournament Midwest Regional Final between Illinois and Arizona. :)