Strange Good Luck Charms in Sports: A 7 year old girl who sings the national anthem, a priest in an orange robe and Maradona’s grandson
A lot of sports teams and athletes believe in good luck charms. They think that having something on them, or a person nearby, or a ritual they could perform before a game, would somehow influence the outcome of the game. A lot of the time this has a placebo
effect, while other times it is simply coincidence at play. There has been no scientific evidence done that has so far proven the effects of a talisman of some sort that provides luck in any way. There are three very interesting examples of good luck charms
and teams and athletes swearing by them.
Sports superstitions seem to be as old as sport itself. Athletes have a desire to win and sometimes that desire can cloud their common sense and judgement. If an athlete has done something and that resulted in him or her winning a game or a match or scoring
a goal or throwing the winning pitch, they feel that some thing or the other is directly connected with the win. So they keep doing it and sometimes this continues for years. They feel that they will win if they do the exact same thing they did the first time
they won and if they do not do that same thing they will lose.
There are various superstitions in numerous sports. Some of the most superstitious athletes on average seem to be baseball players. Some of the strangest rituals are done by them before and even during a game. Pitchers have been seen spitting into their
hands and talking to the ball. Batters have been known to stick wads of gum on their caps and one of the biggest jinxes that can happen is to lend a bat to another player.
Basketball is also full of these types of strange superstitions. Some of them include the thought that the last person who takes a shot during a warm up session will have a good game and one should wipe their shoes before entering the court. Michael Jordan
used to wear his favourite blue North Carolina shorts under his professional Bulls uniform for good luck.
Besides these examples there are three recent ones which can be found in sports today and they really baffle the mind. The first one again comes to us from basketball. The Orlando Magic basketball team had a little 7 year old girl who would come out and
sing the national anthem before a game they were playing in. The team found that they won games when the little girl sang and so she started to appear before almost every game the Magic played. It seems as if the team plays better when young Gina Marie Incandela
sings and so it could have a placebo effect on the team and they feel that the voice of a little girl is pushing them to victory.
The next example comes to us from the Netherlands where religion and sports superstition meet. Pastor Paul Vlaar is a huge Dutch football supporter and before the final of the 2010 FIFA World Cup, he dressed up in an orange robe and prayed with 300 other
orange clad supporters for the team to win the final. Well it looks like luck was not on the priest’s side because Spain won the final and the Dutch team were sent home.
The final example of a good luck charm being used in sport is the one employed by Diego Maradona. The eccentric former coach of the Argentina national team brought his grandson Benjamin to watch his team play. Maradona claimed that the little boy was his
good luck charm and with him in the stands the team could not lose. Well the little boy must have been away the day Germany beat the South Americans 4-0.
A lot of the time good luck charms work because people believe they will work. At other times though if a person or a team is going to lose no amount of praying, rabbit’s feet, little 7 year old girls singing or even priests in orange robes can help them
win. Maybe more athletes should concentrate on playing the game better than trying to rely on superstition and good luck charms.
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