Tag Archives: basketball

End on a make

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“Anytime I’m playing basketball like whether I’m just shooting around or I’ve just played pickup or after practice, my last shot before I leave the gym has to be a make. Like even if you’ve missed a bunch in a row you have to keep shooting till one goes in and then you can leave. I think this is like a pretty common thing with everyone that plays basketball and it’s just something I’ve always done and will continue to do. If I don’t do it I “just feel off” and have a feeling something bad will come my way as a result. I think it is because the idea of a basketball going in the hoop is a good thing, and if you end on a good note, it will set the tone for the rest of the day.”

Context

“I don’t remember where I exactly heard this first, but if I were to guess, it was something I saw many other people I played casual basketball with do. Because its so simple and its representation is a positive thing, I think I picked it up quickly without thought. I never really thought about ending on a make in an academic sense because I feel it is something all real hoopers do by default.”

Analysis

This is an example of a ritual because it is an action taken that holds symbolic meaning. It is used to manifest luck and repeated in the same scenario every time, which in this case is at the end of a basketball session. His point that most hoopers just know this rule and do it without thought shows how it is not formally taught to them by coaches or elders. This reveals that often time folklore is spread by watching and copying with shared beliefs. Basketball players or “hoopers” land in the same folk group because of their shared love for the game. This ritual to prevent bad luck is one of many folkloric aspects of this basketball folk group. Since folklore can have many variations of the same idea this ritual can be a make from any spot on the court and different folk likely have their own takes on what is the right spot to shoot from.

Interlocking Arms

Age: 21

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“I played varsity basketball all 4 years in high school, and one like common thing that would always come up throughout the season was interlocking arms. On like senior night, the seniors would interlock their arms with each other before the game as their names were getting announced to like walk up and take their pictures and get flowers and stuff. I think it was like a way of showing that we were together, kinda like one group, one team sort of thing. But also during like clutch free throws at the end of the game everybody on the bench would interlock arms for the free throws. It was kind of like a superstition, something we did for good luck. You see it a lot on like TV too like in college basketball games they’ll do it and also in soccer games during penalty shootouts a lot of times the players in the back will have their arms interlocked, so yeah like the same thing we were doing.”

Context
DZ remembers interlocking arms as an unspoken act that would come up throughout the season for his high school basketball team in moments of solidarity (senior night) and in clutch moments when they needed the best luck. He says that the whole team would always participate, and no one would have to say anything; if one person started it, everyone would follow suit. DZ notes that this wasn’t something independent to his team and that he has seen it on TV a lot, so even the first time that his team did it he had an understanding of the meaning behind the act.

Analysis
DZ’s story of interlocking arms contains a lot of different folkloric themes. He says that the gesture was always unspoken and that he knew the meaning behind it from the very first time that his team locked arms, showing how folklore can be shared and enacted through example. The gesture also become a core part of the basketball team’s identity, representing unity and the team’s bonds in valuable moments. This gesture also served multiple purposes. In moments like senior night, it was used as somewhat of a rite of passage, marking the seniors transition into a new beginning. In clutch moments during games, it served as a superstition with magic behind it, a gesture that would create good luck and influence the outcome of the game positively. These different uses are an example of Santino’s point that rituals are both symbolic and instrumental, as interlocking arms represented team togetherness and helped create good luck. DZ saying that the gesture was not one created by his team, but rather a popular gesture among athletes shows that it is a core piece of lore among the athlete folk group, and also that it exists in multiplicity and variations around the world. I, for one, always noticed this gesture by sports teams in games I watched on TV, so I thought it was very cool that somebody I knew engaged in it in their own team as well.

Basketball Free Throws

Text: The informant would dribble five times before shooting a free throw when she played basketball for her high school. She performed this ritual because she believed it would help her make more of her free throws.

Context: The informant noticed that she would make a higher percentage of her free throws when she performed this ritual, although she says it was probably because of a placebo affect more than anything else. She started this ritual when she first joined the team and realized that her teammates all had pre-free-throw rituals of their own.

Analysis: For the informant, creating her own ritual was a way of becoming a true part of the team, since everyone else had their own rituals. Additionally, this is an example of the power of belief, and how thinking can actually influence one’s physicality. Just because she believed that her ritual was helping her score more points, it actually was.

Knockout

Informant KS is a 19 year-old USC freshman from San Jose, California.

Text:

Knockout is a game in which there is a line of people and players try to knock other players out until there is only one player remaining, the winner. All players line up single file behind the free throw line, and the first two players in the line each receive a basketball. The first person in line will make a shot attempt to initiate the game, and it is the goal of the second person in line to knock the first person out by making a shot before the first person does. The first person must make a shot before the second player in order to remain safe. Upon doing so, the first person passes the ball to the person behind the second player in line, and thus the second player is now in danger of being knocked out. The player who makes a shot moves to the back of the line. The process continues until only two players remain, and in some variations, the line moves further to the three-point line where each player must make a shot. In some variations of the game, after the initial shot by the first player from the three-point line, each player must make two consecutive shots, rather than one, in order to be crowned the winner. A typical technique in knockout is for one player to hit the other player’s ball far away from the net in order to allow themself more time to score a basket. In some variations, if your ball is knocked away far enough, you are automatically eliminated.

Context:

KS: “I’ve played it in a variety of contexts. Generally, when there’s people and basketballs you’ll find people playing it. I’ve played it in middle school, in high school, and at various summer camps. When I played basketball in middle school, we sometimes did that at practice as a fun game to end the practice. It’s very versatile. It’s good at bringing people together. It’s definitely a common thing that people know about, and unlike the actual game of basketball which has very clearly defined rules, knockout can really be what you make of it.”

Analysis:

The game of knockout benefits from its simplicity in that it is a shared practice that unites teenagers and youth from different places. As a relatively simple game, knockout is a simple and effective way to help children stay in shape and have fun during structured and unstructured play time, as KS revealed. The nature of the game is hyper-competitive and fast-paced, as two players quickly attempt to secure their own safety or knock the other person out. For a country with a capitalist, individualist, and competitive culture such as the United States, this game presumably remains popular due to its alignment with cultural values such as individual achievement and ruthless competition. The element of knocking away one’s ball while playing adds on to the practice of ruthless competition, allowing children to rehearse concepts such as competition and individualism in a social setting which will likely remain with them as they transition into competitive academic and professional environments.

Press Down/Pat Head

AW is a 19 year old college student. She is a freshman computer science major and loves basketball. She played as a child and closely follows professional basketball today.

Context: This is performed during a basketball game, both amateur and professional. This was collected at the collectors house after eating dinner.

Transcript:

Collector: Are there any basketball gestures that only players or super-fans would know?

AW: Oh for sure. Two that kind of go together are when a player pats their head or presses their hand down by their side *gestures to collector*.

They are kind of opposites but also very similar if that makes sense? When a player pats their head after making a basket or playing good defense, it is them boasting about how they are bigger than the person guarding them. But when a player presses down, they basically refer to how short or small the person guarding them is. So if a player makes a basket after being guarded, they can press down or pat their head as a boast of how big they are compared to the other person. It just depends on if they want to refer to their height or the other players lack of height. I think it’s pretty f*cking funny.

Pat head gesture
Press down gesture

Thoughts/analysis: These two gestures are a reflection of basketball and sports culture overall. When the players do well, they do not just praise themselves as individuals, they do so by putting other players down in a competitive way. This form of body language not only exhibits confidence in one’s self, but it is also used to get into the head of the opposing team. Overall, I thought these gestures were fun because it conveys a strong message without using words that could get players flagged for misconduct. It could also be interesting for teams to create variations of this that are unique to them. That could create a special identity for them.