Tag Archives: fan culture

Fanbases and their crazy superstitions

AGE

23

Date of performance

4/30/25

Language

English

Nationality

American

Occupation

PHD Student

Primary Language

Aramaic

Residence

San Diego, CA

Superstition: Every time I watch my favorite NFL team; I have to wear my pajama pants with my Lamar Jackson jersey

Context + Text: The informant is my brother. He is a fan of the Baltimore Ravens, an NFL team, and has been a fan for over 10 years now. When he was younger, he always believed that he had to wear his special jersey in order for his team to win. Now that he has gotten a bunch of Ravens gear over the years, he has increased his superstition. He has a new rule that he must wear his Ravens pajama pants and his Lamar Jackson jersey, the QB of the team. “You know I never took this superstition that seriously until we lost a super important game to a really bad team”. The situation took place in the playoffs when the Ravens were projected to win by more than 10 points but ended up losing the game. “Since then, I have taken it super seriously, I can’t have my team lose badly like this again”. Unfortunately for my brother, his superstition does not always work, as his team has failed to make a championship in over 12 years. However, they have gotten closer every year, and he believes that his actions have played a role in that.

Analysis: Sports superstitions have been around for decades, whether it be from the fans or the actual players themselves. Many famous athletes have discussed how they wear the same pair of underwear every game they play, because it makes them feel lucky and more “in the zone”. These superstitions are based on how the player performs or how the fan believes his team performed for that game and believe replicating the exact situation will lead to the same result. For the fans, these superstitions help them feel like play a true role in the team’s performance. “Every time I wear this jersey we win”, is something every sports fan has heard, and is it important to note the “we” from the fan, even though he is not on the team he believes he won because of his actions. Superstitions aren’t always negative and sometimes can be used to bring a sense of community as seen here. 

If I stand like this my sportsbet will hit!

AGE

20

Date of performance

5/1/25

Language

English

Nationality

American

Occupation

Student

Primary Language

Aramaic

Residence

San Diego, CA

Superstition: Where I sit, stand, or how I move affects all sports bet I have. 

Context + Text: The individual is my brother, and he used to be an avid sport better. He used to watch any professional league, from any professional country, as long as he could put a bet on it. He always believed it made games more interesting, and funny enough he developed his own superstition for how he would watch these games. “Sometimes, the team I had money on would be getting killed, so I’d get up to make myself a sandwich, and instantly my team begins to score like they’ve never scored before”. He continued to say he believed that because he got up and made a sandwich, he was changing the luck for his team. “I would literally just sit with my sandwich and not move, and it’s crazy how it works because my bet would get closer to cashing”. According to the individual, he claims that when similar situations like this have happened and he did not stay in the same spot, his team would start losing again. He has continued to hold this superstition for years, and it has led to many funny stories with the individual having his shirt half off standing on the arm of a couch because “his team was playing better”. 

Analysis: This superstition is similar to that of fans wearing jerseys or pants to ‘make’ their team win, but it is a lot more hectic and uncommon. The idea that sports bettors believe the angle at which they watch the game truly determines the outcome is absurd, but can we really classify it as absurd if so, many sports bettors have adopted this ‘strategy’? While it may seem ridiculous to those around them, there has been a community built on weird sport betting scenarios. Some of the funniest examples include not watching the game for my team to win, only watching on my phone or tv (no laptops), and even having to stand in obscure places to make the game more thrilling. While many argue that these superstitions are only adding thrill for the individual, and therefore they believe that they are more involved in the game, I have seen it work for numerous individuals and am getting close to trying out these superstitious rituals. 

Don’t Wake Sleeping Dogs

Nationality: American
Age: 59
Occupation: Psychology Professor
Residence: Forest Falls, CA
Language: English

Text:

“Let sleeping dogs lie.”

Context:

This proverb was performed during a hockey game in the Crypto.com Arena in Los Angeles, California. It was the third (and final) period of the game, and the Kings (an American team based in Los Angeles) were losing to the Canucks (A Canadian team based in Vancouver) two to zero. During a stoppage in between plays, one Kings player started to nudge a Canucks player. This turned into a scuffle, and the audience roared with excitement.

“That’s got the Kings all fired up,” remarked the informant, who was rooting for the Canucks to win. “You don’t wanna wake ’em up — you gotta let sleeping dogs lie.”

Analysis:

When asked for his interpretation of the proverb within the context of its performance, the informant explained: “The team that’s behind is kind of low energy, just kinda lagging. But if you mock them and disrespect them, then it could add extra angry energy and get them playing a lot better with the increased motivation to defend their honor.”

The use of this proverb compared the team, and by extension, the fans, to dogs who could become aggressive at any moment if provoked. At the game, the rivalry existed on multiple levels — the teams themselves competing to win, the fans vying for their team and against the other team and its corresponding fans, and the competing national identities of Canada and the United States. The undertones of national rivalry were especially strong in the political moment, following the election of Donald Trump in the United States and his ensuing statements on international policy.

Rose Christo and the My Immortal Authorship Debate

Nationality: American
Age: 20
Occupation: Student
Residence: Los Angeles, CA
Performance Date: April 25, 2021
Primary Language: English

“My Immortal is a Harry Potter fan fiction that um is famously very bad. It trended and was popularized because of how famously awful it was. And one of the aspects that made it very popular in addition to its awfulness was that nobody knew who the author was. And for years in fan fiction it was a form of folklore *subject winks* who the author of My Immortal was, and people thought we’d never get the answer. But one morn….one week in 2017 a woman on Tumblr claimed that she was the author of My Immortal, and that her name was Rose Christo, and that she wrote My Immortal to be intentionally bad so it would become popular so she could reconnect with her long-lost brother who she was separated from in foster care. She made a bunch of wild claims in addition to that, um, like how in her foster care she was, she was abused for being Native American before it was revealed that she was a white woman completely lying, having never been in foster care. Um, to this day it’s still not known whether she actually wrote My Immortal, because she did have documents hinting that she did. But we do know that she was lying about all of her reasons for writing it.”

Notes: 

This is one of my favorite pieces of internet folklore. The author has gone through many permutations, from the screen name of XXXbloodyrists666XX to Tara Gilesbie to Rose Christo to once again a big question mark. Additionally, there’s the fact that it reportedly got deleted of of fan fiction.net, the original hosting site, twice. It’s one of the first pieces of internet folklore I can remember hearing about as a young teenager, after it’s deletion but before Rose Christo came out as the “author,” so I got to watch her rise and fall in real time. It’s certainly interesting — who would make the claim to be the author of such a notoriously bad piece of work? It’s fascinating to keep up with, and I’m eager to see who comes forward to claim it next.

For more on My Immortal, click here.