Author Archives: Scott Wey

Sweater Vests and Slicked Back Hair for Basketball Luck

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“When I was playing basketball and we had a winning streak going my coach wore the same sweater vest and even had the same slicked back hairstyle until we lost.”

My informant told me that his coach had a repertoire of sweater vests and hairstyles that he cycled through over the course of a season. Apparently, the thinking is that if things are going well and everything stays the same, then things should continue to go well. The coach would also refuse to wash his sweater vests until the end of the season, treating luck as something tangible that clung to his sweater vests and could be easily washed off.

This belief ties closely with a Chinese belief. On Chinese New Year, parents tell their children not to wash their hair because it will wash away the good luck for the coming year.

People enjoy correlating a spurt of good luck with common items such as clothing because it implies that luck is a force that can be controlled and called upon when needed.

The origin of such beliefs may be centered on the fact that with repetition, people tend to improve at a task. So when a favorite shirt is worn often, a person may believe that it is the article of clothing that improves his “luck.” In actuality, it may be the extra practice that accounts for his improvement.

Jason Kidd’s Free Throw Ritual

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“Even in the NBA, players have superstitions. For example, Jason Kidd, who whenever he shoots a free throw will touch his butt and kiss the crowd before he shoots.”

This ritual is a way of to soothing oneself during a stressful time through repetition of a familiar action. At the same time it is an act of showmanship, directly addressing the audience. Many athletes have rituals that they perform before or after games, as there is a strong belief in luck among them. This makes sense as the outcome of many athletic competitions doesn’t come down purely to skill. There is often a strong element of chance or luck involved in sports, so athletes often feel like luck and ritual is very important.

The idea of using familiar repetitions to relax is also seen when athletes or students choose to wear their “lucky socks” during a competition or exam. Whereas the item probably does not improve a person’s luck, it is often comforting by providing a memory as a souvenir of success.

Carbo-loading for Exams

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“As a pre-med I’ve heard from other people that they like to carbo-load before tests and it actually helps out.”

College students as a whole are commonly stressed and cramming for their exams the night before. Pre-medical students are even more notorious for doing anything to get ahead, as grades are incredibly important to as part of the application process to medical school. It is not surprising that some people treat test-taking like an athletic event that merits carbo-loading. I have heard of pre-med students that have snapped during exams and gone around ripping up people’s answer sheets in the midst of the exam.

Carbo-loading is common to many athletes because carbohydrates are biological molecules that provide quick energy for the body. The molecules are stored as glycogen in the muscle and liver after a large meal, and are rapidly consumed during exercise. Therefore, athletes can effectively prepare for their event by storing more energy for greater endurance the next day.

These pre-med students probably hope to store more energy in order to promote clearer thinking the next day during the exam.

See:
Bergström, J., Hermansen, L., Hultman, E., & Saltin, B. (1967). Diet, muscle glycogen and physical performance. Acta Physiologica Scandinavica, 71(2‐3), 140-150.

Kicking Poles before USC Football Games

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“One folklore I’ve heard about USC is actually kicking the flagpole as good luck before football games.”

I’ve heard this too and I have asked about where this has come from, but I’ve never been able to find out. It’s always interesting to see hundreds of people kicking a flagpole on the way to the Coliseum before a game. I’ve heard that football players kick the flagpole as well. This practice seems to only happen during home games, as I have yet to see anyone kicking the flag pole while the football team is playing an away game. A lot of my friends have questioned this practice and the purpose behind it, but they all continue to do it because the action has become a symbolic tradition and an amusing way to demonstrate school spirit.

This practice is similar to other actions people perform for “good luck.” Other common things include crossing one’s fingers or making a wish after witnessing a shooting star. Although these superstitions are more likely than not ineffectual in increasing one’s “luck,” these practices are common because people enjoy these traditions that are passed down generation to generation.

Avoid the Deadly Four

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“One of my friends told me that in Chinese culture, the word “four” has a similar pronunciation to the word for “death”. So if you go into buildings in like Hong Kong or whatever, they skip the number four, so you know how we as Americans, some high rises don’t have thirteen, they don’t have four. Not only that, but they also skip the entire forty level too. So you go from thirty nine not to forty, but to fifty.”

The avoidance of “four” because it sounds like “death” in Chinese culture is a classic example of homeopathic magic. The thinking centers around the belief that the word invites death because of the way it sounds and the more that it is invoked, the more death and bad luck it invites. The idea that uttering a word can bring bad luck is common, such as the taboo on the word “Macbeth” when inside the theater.

Hotels and apartments have an incentive to omit the number four from much of their buildings because living on a fourth floor room would be seen as living in the shadow of death. For these businesses, it is a smarter move financially to exclude these floors because clients or customers would refuse to associate with them. It’s better to be safe than sorry and avoid the number four.

Interestingly, both South Koreans and Japanese also have an aversion to their “four” word as it is pronounced very similarly to the Chinese “four” and their word for “death” is very similar to the Chinese word for “death.” Of course, Korean and Japanese are strongly believed to have originated from Chinese, and because traditions and superstitions are carried through language, it is reasonable that these two cultures would also avoid the number four.