Do behaviors have some sort of power? According to many professional athletes, the answer is "yes". Professional athletes are the most publicly superstitious people in the world. Some are so severely enthralled in their superstitions that I'd say they borderline suffer from OCD.
Some superstitions are subtle, such as not mentioning that a pitcher has a no-hitter going or wearing the same article of clothing you wore during a win. Other superstitions are pretty weird, some weirder than others.
13. Wayne Gretzky followed the same dressing routine and always ended it with tucking the right side of his jersey inside of his pants.
12. Bobby Madritsch would get rid of every footprint on the mound that was made by the opposing pitcher.
11. Patrick Roy would cautiously step over the red and blue lines on the way to the goalie net and would also talk to his goal posts.
10. Tiger Woods wears a red shirt on the final day of every tournament.
9. Jason Kidd blows a kiss to his family before each free throw.
8. Tony La Russa began wearing a bulletproof vest after receiving a death threat in 1982 and wore a warmup jacket to cover the vest. The Sox had a winning streak, so even after he quit wearing the vest he continued to wear the jacket.
7. The Steelers had a 3-game winning streak during the playoffs while wearing white jerseys, so coach Bill Cower had the team wear their white jerseys during the 2006 Super Bowl. They won.
6. Wade Boggs only eats chicken on game days and takes the same number (150) of ground balls during practice. He also had to end pre-game practice by stepping on third base, second base, first base, the base line, taking two steps in the coach's box, and getting to the dugout in exactly 4 steps.
5. Bruce Gardiner dipped his hockey stick in the toilet before each game. Gross.
4. Turk Wendell chewed four pieces of black licorice while pitching and would then spit it out and brush his teeth between innings. He doesn't just step over the baseline, he leaps.
3. Michael Jordan wore his lucky North Carolina shorts under his Chicago Bulls shorts, which forced him to wear longer shorts. This changed the fashion of basketball uniforms forever. Bye bye short shorts!
2. Larry Walker admits that he has an obsession with the number 3. He wears 33 on his baseball jersey, sets his alarm for 33 minutes past the hour, takes practice swings in multiples of 3, got married on November 3 at 3:33 pm, and bought 33 kids seats in section 333 at Olympic Stadium when he played in Montreal.
1. Kevin Rhomberg gets the win for the baseball player with the craziest superstitions. He had to re-touch every person that touched him. Other players could easily play pranks on him by touching him and then running away and hiding. Kevin would spend hours searching for the person so that he could touch them. He also would not make right turns (since you only make lefts when running the bases). If he had to make a right, he would turn left and make a complete circle.
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