The Case For Sports Fandom Superstitions

I do not consider myself a generally superstitious person. I'll cross paths with all the black cats. If there is a ladder in my way, I'm walking under it. I have broken countless mirrors because clumsy. And I have never attributed any negative occurrences in my life to committing these superstitious crimes. However, when it comes to the success of my sports teams, I'm superstitious as can be.

I am a Philadelphia Eagles fan, which has been difficult to say the least. I grew up in a town without professional sports teams, so when I met my husband I joined his fandom not knowing how disappointing it would be. It had been a long decade until the 2017/18 football season when my Eagles were just one game away from playing in the Super Bowl.

Eagles vs Vikings in the NFC Championship game and I couldn't bring myself to watch because anxiety. Instead I just kept refreshing the score every few minutes. And wouldn't you know it, the Eagles won! Naturally that meant in order for them to win the Super Bowl against the Patriots I'd have to skip watching the game and stick to refreshing the score periodically. As much as I wanted to see the win live, I couldn't let my bad juju affect the game by watching it. And they won! The precedent was set, and I don't watch any playoff games just in case.

Now my NBA team is in the playoffs and following the same logic, I didn't watch. Turns out there are different rules for different leagues! The Nuggets were about to play seemingly their last game of the series, as they were 3-1 down vs the Utah Jazz. So I decided to watch the game and they made a comeback and won! I made sure to watch the next 2 games because good juju, and they closed out the series on top in Game 7.

Now they are on to the next series starting Thursday. Best believe I will be watching. They are going to be champions, if only because of my superstitious ways! What are your sports superstitions? Does it have to do with your fan gear or where you watch the game? I'm always fascinated by the things fans do and don't do to "help" their team win.