Athletes are – supposedly – a superstitious group. Michael Jordan wore the same shorts every game since college. He washed them between games of course. I’ve even heard that the Notre Dame football players touch their school name on a certain board in the tunnel as they run out onto the field. Many teams or athletes pray before a game.

I used to drink orange juice every game day and ate pancakes the morning after a win. I drank more OJ then ate pancakes.

What about you all, did you have a lucky pair of socks or a routine you followed on game day or before a race?

I'm very superstitious about telling people my superstitions.

Oh f*ck!

I'm not superstitious at all. Never did anything special before tournaments that I can remember.

The sign says "Play like a champion today." It hangs outside the Notre Dame locker room.

Thanks MM for clarifing and George Twins, don't worry, I won't tell. LOL

I have two things that come to mind. One has turned into a superstition the other is just a fosus/habit thing. On the tennis court, when I am trying to pump myself up, I hit my upper thigh three times with my left hand. If I only do it once or twice, I find I have to start over and do it three times. It's just crazy! The second is a walking pattern I have when getting ready to return serve, or when I am on the service line waiting for my partner to return in doubles. It's a very deliberate three steps forward, three steps back routine, for lack of a better word. I find it helps me focus. I don't know why, but it works.-

I feel like there's a difference between a superstition and a routine. At least with golf, every top player has a specific set of things they do before every shot. Tiger Woods' pre-putt motions can be timed down to the second. Doing the same thing immediately before taking each action can have extremely positive effects on performance.

Oh jeez. I never used to think I was superstitious, then I thought about it for awhile. I have way too many of these. Below is the short list.

Skateboarding (my main sport)
(1) first trick on a new board has to be a nollie kickflip
(2) wont ride any solid painted decks
(3) wont ride yellow or clear stained decks
(4) skate shoes have to be black or navy blue
(5) wont wear back pants in a contest
(6) when putting a new board together, front truck always has to go on first
(7) allen wrech hardwear over phillphs based hardwear.
(8) I wont do handrails that have a brick landing surface.

Snowboarding
(1) snowboard has to have stickers on it.
(2) have to wear full face-mask.
(3) first trick of the day has to be a switch stance frontside 360.

Karate
(1) pants have to be cuffed, not hemmed
(2) extra baggy uniform
(3) uniform has to be washed, and properly folded, as soon as I get home from class (only garment I own IO do this with)
(4) If I can't make the tip of my belt touch the ground on center splits (stretching out before class), I always think my kicks are going to be off for that session.

Softball
(1) will only wear short-inseam / knee-high pants.
(2) have to keep batting gloves on when on base
(3) If i don't get a good hit, I have to rotate my bat to a different contact point next time I am up.
(4) the more people on the team that are dressed the same for a game, the better I think the team and I are going to play.

and I'll leave it at that so I don't look even more crazy than I already do.