Watch any sporting event and you will surely see at least one player who engages in some form of superstition. Whether it’s LeBron James tossing chalk into the air before every game or a goalie tapping the goalposts, these traditions happen in almost every sport.
Justin Morneau’s Slurpee: Before every game, Minnesota Twins first baseman Justin Morneau must have a Slurpee. It can’t just be any Slurpee, though — it must be a Mountain Dew Slurpee. It can’t be any old Mountain Dew Slurpee, either. It has to be half “red or orange stuff,” as Buster Olney put it in an article for ESPN the Magazine in 2006.
Of course, just anyone making the drink for him would be too easy. The slurpy must be made by Twins second baseman Nick Punto, who introduced the concoction to Morneau. This superstition may be unusual, but maybe not unprecedented. I’m pretty sure Mickey Mantle had Billy Martin make him a concoction or two before games as well.
Playoff Beards: Every year during the NHL playoffs, players grow (or in some cases, attempt to grow) facial hair and refuse to shave until they win the Stanley Cup or are eliminated.
It is believed that the superstition began with the New York Islanders in the 1980s, when the team won four consecutive Stanley Cups. Now, you can’t watch a hockey game late in the playoffs without seeing a few players with hair covering their entire faces.
The playoff beard is such a big deal there is even a Web site dedicated to it. The blog, playoffbeard.com, has a “guide to grading the playoff beard.” The guide shows what a playoff beard should look like in each round of the playoffs.
These beards are not touched throughout a team’s playoff run. They are grown out and not trimmed until they are shaved off after their team’s last game. As a result, players on the Stanley Cup championship team look as if they have not showered in over a month. Please, NHL players — do not make that a new tradition.
Urinating on one’s Hands: This is a real superstition, I swear. Former MLB outfielder and president of the “Steve Bartman Sucks” fan club, Moises Alou used to pee on his hands before games to make them tougher. Yankees catcher Jorge Posada admitted to doing this as well.
“You don’t want to shake my hand during spring training,” Posada said in an interview with ESPN in 2005.
Both Alou and Posada have never used batting gloves. According to a Slate.com article by Dan Kois, however, peeing on your hands does not make them tougher at all, because urea, which is in urine, makes hands softer.
Nonetheless, this is a gross superstition that needs to end. If it was about luck, it would be one thing. But they actually feel like it is physically helping them play baseball.
Kidd Blowing Kisses: Jason Kidd used to blow kisses to his wife Joumanna before every free throw for several years. Before he would shoot, Kidd would dribble the ball a few times, blow a kiss at the basket and launch the ball towards the rim.
In 2007, however, the two got divorced. As AOL Fanhouse’s Brent Pollakoff points out, Kidd may have a new message for his ex-wife. There is a YouTube video taken shortly after the divorce that shows Kidd blowing a kiss, then tapping his back side. Stay classy J-Kidd.
The Trainer Slap: Type in “John Henderson pregame warmup” on YouTube and you will get a somewhat shocking video. It shows the Jacksonville Jaguars’ 6-foot-7-inch, 335-pound defensive tackle John Henderson demanding to be slapped in the face by a scrawny trainer before he takes the field.
After he is satisfied with Joe’s slap, he walks out of the locker room yelling, “That’s what I’m talkin’ about. You gotta make blood come through the mouth.”
You need to watch this video. This is now my favorite superstition. In fact, from now on, before writing any article, I demand that sports editor Andrew Tomlinson slap me in the face.
There are plenty of superstitions I have not talked about. I could discuss how hockey players bounce around during the National Anthem. I could even talk about the Red Sox bullpen drumming with water bottles. It would take days, though, to go through every superstition in sports. For now, these are the only ones worth knowing and, in some cases, avoiding.
You can reach this staff writer at sports@theeagleonline.com.
