Sports superstitions are stupid.

[Brian37]

The idea that something magical, can give you luck or cause you to loose is fucking stupid. 

In a very real sense this is the same flawed logic that leads people to make god claims. In evolution what most people do not realize is that MOST ATTEMPTS at life fail. It is a false perception that because of the amount of abundant life we see, most humans who don't understand evolution, think a magic hand had something to do with it.

No, for that one sperm that gets to the egg, there are millions more in that emission that end up doing nothing. For every child born, there are far more female eggs in her lifetime that end up in a period.

Well in pro sports too, there are only two teams, say in the NBA, or MLB, OR NFL OR NHL out of 30-32 teams, only one will become the winner.

What is appealing about the Cubs win even to non baseball fans, is the concept of the underdog. Religions in our species history get started for much the same reason. You have a person or a minority group of humans whom lack the same resources as the majority. Our species empathy for the minority, is really no different than the empathy a parent has for their kid if they are a baby, or why we respond to when bigger kids bully smaller kids.


There are far more many pro sports teams who DON'T win the Championship and only one in each sport, each year, that does. Cleveland was not "cursed" in it's loss anymore than the Cubs not having a Championship since 1908 was a "curse".

Sports superstitions are as stupid to me as when a player prays for a score as if a god should be concerned with rich jocks or their owners when people die in Africa and the middle east from famine and war.

I get it, sports is fun, and that is OK, but DONT BE FUCKING STUPID about why wins and losses happen. Math, skill, and some luck(not magic luck).

[brewer]

And this separates them from other superstitions how?

[FatAndFaithless]

They're silly, but also harmless.

[SteelCurtain]

Some have a significant placebo effect.

I had a very specific, OCD style routine before my.games, wearing the same t-shirt under my jersey, putting my eye black on in the right order, listening to the same music, etc etc etc. The list goes on. I never for a second believed that any of those things were magical, but I do think stuff like that helps you.

A "curse" is most certainly not a real thing, but psychologically it can have a huge effect on both the opposing team and the team with the "curse."

Just like some QBs in thE NFL just play terribly in certain stadiums, it is purely psychological.

[vorlon13]

Isn't there a statue of a rider on a stallion, rearing up, in Chicago somewhere that it is doom to look at on the way to a game ?

[Brian37]

They're silly, but also harmless.

In what context? No, sports superstitions don't start wars, but on individual fan or player levels they can cause depression, and the rivalries in sports do lead to stupid bullshit like fan violence and riots after wins or losses.

But the same bad logic is the same that leads humans to think something magic, be it an object or deity, lead to the outcome. It is still the same gap filling flawed perception logic that suffers from selection bias and sample rate error.

Sports are metaphors for war, and mimic the evolutionary grouping competition that exists in real evolution. There is no magic or god involved. And the harsh reality for all of life, is that what we see is the small output compared to all the attempts going in. No different than knowing how big the universe is and how the vast majority of it is hostile to life.

It is not harmless. One beer isn't harmless either. But just like religion, a hockey or soccer or baseball or NFL fan can get so superstitious or tribal about it as to get depressed and or get violent over a loss. And that part while not on the same scale as religion, is just as absurd as claiming God/Allah/Yahweh favor your club and your sect at the expense of others being second class and or deserve to die in war because they picked the wrong club.

European an South American soccer fans outside of NHL hockey, can be very violent. Sports superstitions are NOT harmless, nobody is saying it or should say it is on the same scale as violence of religion, but it is still stemming from our species flawed logic.

[FatAndFaithless]

They're silly, but also harmless.

Sports are metaphors for war

Now I recall why I never respond to your threads.  I'm out.

[vorlon13]

Wars are caused by menstruation envy.

I thought everyone knew that.

[Crossless2.0]

SC's right: sports superstitions are silly but innocuous and probably provide some psychological -- albeit placebo -- benefit to the athletes who indulge in them. There are far worse things.

So loosen up, pop some corn, sit back, and enjoy Bull Durham. Hell, I'd wear women's panties and try to breathe through my eyelids if it kept my fast ball under control and I got to bed Susan Sarandon.

[vorlon13]

Might be this one