Superstitions in the sports world get more popular every day. Players in various sports have a certain routine, or a certain thought process that might strongly affect their game. This gives an athlete an edge, an edge that is argued as unbeatable, the edge of hope.

Give an athlete strength and they may lift more than you. Give an athlete speed and they may run faster than you. But give an athlete hope? Nothing is getting in his or her way.

To understand the jist of superstitions, you have to have some. You may discover these on purpose or even on accident, but they all have special meanings. Some of the greatest professional sports players were superstitious. For example, take a look at Michael Jordan. While leading the Chicago Bulls to six NBA championships, the five–time MVP wore his University of North Carolina shorts under his uniform every game. Lets just hope that he  washed them before every game as well. 

Did wearing these shorts every game improve Jordan’s physical ability to play basketball? Of course not. However, Jordan had a bond with this ritual, and this helped him feel more comfortable as he won six championships.

Now, we all can’t be as successful as Jordan with our superstitions, but he is not alone. A wide range of players also partake in these semingly magical superstitions. Superstitions can occur all the way down to pee wee level players. In fact, superstitions are even alive in some high schoolers lives.

During my four years playing football, I had some of my own superstitions. Every Thursday, prior to our Friday night games, many of the football players would have dinner at Buffalo Wild Wings. We enjoyed being there together as a team, and we would not feel the same on the field if we did not attend.

“Superstitions, such as Buffalo Wild Wings, may not seem important, but they serve a bigger purpose,” senior football player Joe Biagi said. “It’s something that can stay inside our heads forever.”

The success of a superstition may vary from athlete to athlete, but the final result is certain. A superstition can put confidence, drive and even swagger into an athlete.

Some may put down the power of superstitions, but the truth is that superstitions in sports have the power to do incredible things. So go ahead and don’t wash that ten–year–old jersey, or eat that gross breakfast burrito on gameday for the hundredth time, but just understand that the power of superstition is bigger than you think.