In praise of superstition.
By training and general life experience, I am a hard core rationalist/naturalist/scientist in almost all realms of my life. But I have to admit I have always been superstitious about sports. Some bad thought, careless word or deed, or random forgotten detail can be the seed of heartbreaking disaster. Like watching a glass fall in slow motion, the universe bending the wrong way, knowing it was at one time preventable, knowing somehow I caused it, but now being helpless to stop it. It was all going well until I broke it. Too many to list in their entirety, but 1999 MSU and 2006 OSU are prime examples. Trey's clean block too.
I guess I had surrendered to BPONE over the last few years with the world and personal life falling apart in general. I really did not care about sports anymore, and had fully factored in a loss for yesterday. But then I read some random OSU fan posting here about how Stroud had maybe never thrown a ball in the cold. I had to check into that and sure enough California boy might not be prepared for some snow!
That was enough to get me fired up--for that paleolithic sun-worshipper in me to re-activate. I vowed to be unrelentingly positive toward everyone I met, reminding them that anything is possible and the future is not written. If there was any interest in the game, I told folks how Stroud was untested in the snow and our defensive ends would terrorize him and that ball is slippery when wet and cold. It was like spice from Arrakis, stating it would make it happen. I simply knew it.
I made my bed with precision on game day and cleaned the house that morning. Got on my best fresh washed UM t-shirt and headed over to my buddy's house, dog in tow with her wonder dog cape on. "Bending the arc of history" was my mantra. The power of positive thinking. Even after that interception, nothing was going to alter the flow. I started texting long lost friends about quantum physics and the many worlds hypothesis, and how it all really makes sense if you just look at it the right way.
Touchdown! 3 and out! Fucking Hassan Haskins! Flea flicker! Hutchinson relentless snarling wolverine. Ojabo I am not forgetting you--you'll get yours! YES! That slippery ball in Strouds hands. Nervous OSU players. Sad face OSU fans. Good God, the universe is unfolding at my will.
Best game vibe since '97 for sure, and maybe even of all time since in the 90's we were used to winning big games. Better weed these days for sure. Not gonna discount that either.
How about you? Did this game restore/recalibrate your superstitious ways? New ones to keep trying? Old ones to dust off?
Go Blue!
November 28th, 2021 at 3:20 PM ^
Usually my dad and I gather at his house for the game, but it's ended so bitterly disappointing in recent years.
This year I was in a different state, still met my dad, we went to a river view restaurant and watched from the booth.
Sometimes change in the routine is good!
November 28th, 2021 at 3:24 PM ^
You can have your superstitions. I won the juju battle by going with the TV in my den, not the big screen hooked up to the sound system, which had a bad track record in big Michigan games. Also channeled the old school manball vein by wearing an old, actual maize, t shirt. No highlighter yellow. Just sayin'
November 28th, 2021 at 3:25 PM ^
I am a horrible gambler. No matter how sure a thing I think something is, if I put money on it, it won’t happen.
With that in mind, I made several bets once online sports betting became legal here in Florida. Some did actually cash (unfortunately), but several didn’t. These bets included $10 on MSU over Purdue, $20 on MSU over OSU, and finally $119 on OSU over UM. I even upped the bet from the original amount up to $150 on OSU.
My reasoning and logic are based in “emotional hedging”. It’s not just that I want to soften the potential emotional blow of a negative outcome. I am more than happy to pay for a positive outcome. If my bet chases, fine. If it doesn’t, all the better as I wouldn’t spend that money on anything else that would make any happier or provide any more enjoyment.
I’m sure I’m not the only person to do this, let alone the first, but it does reduce the stress of watching the games for me knowing a positive outcome awaits one way or another.
With all that in mind, I’ll be putting money on Iowa this week. A small bet should cover a bet I made 10 years ago that UM would win a B1G Title before Iowa, and the dinner that was added to the bet if they happened to play against each other in the Championship game.
Go Blue!
November 28th, 2021 at 3:26 PM ^
Sports really are a mystical thing--it pulls out something deep and primordial. It's the one place where I can think in a pre-scientific way and not feel ashamed of it. Go Blue Forever. Thank you for your own personal superstitious contribution to this best of all possible worlds.
My wife (an MSU fan) was convinced by halftime that we would win. I kept telling her not to speak the words, lest we tempt fate.
November 28th, 2021 at 3:26 PM ^
This is so stupid. Everyone knows it’s my fault when we lose.
November 28th, 2021 at 3:31 PM ^
Joe Milton knew!!!
November 28th, 2021 at 3:39 PM ^
I took shots of knob creek instead of fireball at the kickoffs and look what happened
November 28th, 2021 at 3:43 PM ^
2 years ago, after the defeat to that school, I decided that my silver Buick Verano was close enough to the color gray and therefore far too close to be half of the hated scarlet and gray. Needing to break whatever negative mojo that has been happening to my beloved Wolverines, the very next day (2 years ago) I went on Carvana and bought a blue Buick Encore to go with my WL4INE personalized logo license plate.
So I am proud to announce that my blue Buick is 1-0 and looking for more! Yes, this is a true story!
Go Blue and Beat Iowa!
November 28th, 2021 at 3:44 PM ^
I didn't let my kids switch couch positions. The one minute they did we threw a pick. Never once again
November 28th, 2021 at 3:44 PM ^
I wore red on red all day with blue jeans. We win when I wear the other school's colors.
November 28th, 2021 at 6:09 PM ^
Better get some black and gold before Saturday!!
November 28th, 2021 at 3:53 PM ^
Every article of clothing I wore yesterday was blue, right down to my skivvies. Socks, shirt, jersey...everything. I'm not a superstitious person, but didn't want to leave anything to chance.
November 28th, 2021 at 4:40 PM ^
tl:dr…… however, +1 for Stevie Ray Vaughan praise!
November 28th, 2021 at 4:53 PM ^
By training and general life experience, I am a hard core rationalist/naturalist/scientist in almost all realms of my life. But I have to admit I have always been superstitious about sports.
That's me in a nutshell, and when it comes to sports I'm more than a little nuts.
I stopped wearing UM gear on game days for this season because it seemed like every time I'd watch a big game in a Michigan ball cap and shirt in the past, we'd lose. So for the WMU and Washington game days I switched to my Bowling Green hat, which I have because my daughter is a grad student there. That was obviously a key factor in our wins, and I kept it up until I made a fatal, thoughtless mistake on the day we played MSU—I wore my normal Michigan ball cap in the morning during breakfast, and partway through the first quarter I realized to my horror I still had it on. Switching to the BG cap was too late, obviously. I learned my lesson for the rest of the season.
The other thing I did different was to leave up the Halloween skeletons I put on our house. Normally I take them down soon after Halloween, but I decided to leave them up through the OSU game as bad juju for the Buckeyes. Obviously that worked too, along with my BGSU hat I wore all day.
Of course I had to put Michigan ball caps on the skeletons today.
November 28th, 2021 at 5:54 PM ^
You are all very funny, but UM won because they were better. No need to cut off rabbits’ feet, nor squeeze goats’ testicles.
November 28th, 2021 at 6:05 PM ^
I’m a little nuts too when comes to superstition. Since I was 12( I’m now 59)every sandwich I’ve made has had the mustard placed on it in the shape of a block M. And it HAS to be on top of any and all round red things( tomatoes or peppers ) and any green things also ( lettuce or guacamole) to show superiority. And yeah I realize it’s not always worked but I still keep the faith. I will occasionally request it at restaurants also just to be annoying. But only with servers that I know well. I’ve thought about stopping but really what the hell does it hurt!
GO BLUE!!
BEAT IOWA!!
November 28th, 2021 at 6:45 PM ^
For years, I stopped wearing UM gear on game day because it never seemed to work out. Yesterday I said fuck it, it doesn't matter what I'm wearing. It didn't
November 28th, 2021 at 10:36 PM ^
Stroud played pretty well.
November 29th, 2021 at 8:55 AM ^
I did my part this year. Before going to bed on Friday night, I bet my entire Draft Kings balance on OSU money line, hoping that it would be enough to appease the football gods. I also wore the same UM shirt that I wore when I had my stem cells collected at UM hospital for transplant to my brother. It felt very lucky.