Taboo and Basketballs

Last Night, as I sat in front of my computer and looked for blogs to write about: I couldn't. The reason was because I had a basketball final the next day. As I went from blog entry to blog entry and read more about basketball, the anxiety got worse. And I began to think about what makes athletes do the things they do. Since I was a younger I could remember doing certain things before a football game: wearing a "lucky" shirt or buying the same gatorade flavor. The thought of having rituals pre or post game was interesting. So, I investigated. I found out that most athletes have superstitions that they avoid to feel confident. "Athletic superstitions and pre-game protocol rule the sporting world," said Kurtis Larson. And I agreed. Michael Jordan would play with his North Carolina Tarheels shorts underneath his Bulls uniform. In case this doesn't gross you out, Mark McGwire used the same protective cup from highschool. And we cannot dismiss the most famous one today, LeBron James' chalk throwing in the air. These rituals may even include swagger. All these superstitions were fascinating to read. They ranged from a simple use of an item of clothing to wanting multiple shots to the face. As I thought more of these taboos, I concluded that they're as important to a player as the actual game. After reading about the things that professional athletes do, it made me think that no matter how good they are, they wouldn't be as calm if it weren't for these rituals.