Game Day Ritual: Apple Sauce

Informant:

D. N. was born and raised in St. Louis, Missouri as the fifth of eleven children living under his mother and father. He is one of nine boys and two girls, and played several sports in high school where he eventually matriculated to USC. He studied engineering and now works as a real estate developer living in Palos Verdes Estates, California with my mother. He has three sons, and I am the youngest of the three.

Folklore:

“So this superstition actually is your brother Trevor’s. I suspect he got this from me at a young age, though… I would always tell teams that I coached ‘It’s best to play on a half-full stomach.’ I would suggest eating light meals such as power bars or apple sauce before games. I encouraged your brother to do this, too. For as long as I can remember, actually… Trevor had two cups of apple sauce and water before each football game. From kindergarten through high school, he would have the same meal on game days. When he started to play for Penn… Mom and I had to ship this specific brand of apple sauce to Trevor until we found it on Amazon Prime for him. He ate this meal every football game of his career. You think I’m superstitious?”

Analysis:

This is extremely similar to the “Lucky Underwear” superstition. Again, I believe the placebo effect of feeling that you have done things right and want to continue the same method is very important. However, in this case, I believe that the physical effect could actually be real since it is an ingested food. What I find most interesting though, is that Trevor seemed to have learned this ritual from my Dad. It is passed down, even though my father isn’t the one who started it necessarily.