The Middlebury Campus

Issue date: 11/4/04 Section: Opinions

If you noticed a bunch of guys in the last couple of weeks who looked like they hadn't shaved in a while, odds are it wasn't entirely due to laziness that they let their facial hair grow. Rather, it more than likely had to do with the Red Sox being in the playoffs. In fact, superstitions play a huge role in sports - for both the players and the fans. Some athletes don't wash their uniforms after a good game, many have good-luck charms and in baseball, most players are careful not to step on the foul line when going out to their positions in the field. As for the fans, everyone has a different ritual - from sitting in a lucky chair during the game to wearing the jersey of a favorite player to drinking the same kind of beer as the last time the team won. Some fans even go as far as not watching the games because they believe their favorite team plays better when its number one fan isn't watching.

What's especially interesting is that some of the most superstitious sports fans have no superstitions outside of sports. I, for one, fall into this group of people. To show you how far some fans go to help their team win, let me tell you some of the things I did during the American League Championship Series between the Red Sox and the Yankees.

After the Sox were down three games to none at the end of Fall Break, I decided they needed my help. I knew I had to change something because what I had done up until that point was definitely not working. As a die-hard Yankee-hater, I was willing to do whatever I could to make the Yankees lose. First of all, I knew I had to stop shaving. Not only had I shaved at some point during the first three games, but I also knew that not shaving would be both good luck and a tribute to the Sox. (I mean really, does anyone on that team not have facial hair? Johnny Damon had some serious competition from Kevin Millar, and no one on the team wanted to be left out.)

Next, I decided to watch Game 4 on a different TV. I sat on the couch in the Ross second floor lounge, and placed next to me my three juggling balls and my water gun for Assassins (though that was more for protection than luck). I was wearing a red shirt, blue sweatpants and my Middlebury sweatshirt and hat. After a thrilling, record-setting game that the Sox won in 12 innings, I knew I had to watch Game 5 in the same location. So there I was again with my multi-colored juggling balls and my squirt gun, wearing another red shirt (I figured it was the color, not the shirt itself that mattered) but the same blue sweatpants along with my Midd sweatshirt and hat. Sure enough, Boston prevailed in 14 innings, breaking the previous game's new record for length in time of a league championship series game.

Continued...

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