Last week, we had another “Question of the Week” from Mike Chamernik, and he’s back today with his latest QOTW.
Enjoy!
Question of the Week
by Mike Chamernik
Pro athletes are creatures of habit. For one, a daily routine lessens stress and allows people to focus on the things that actually matter. Also, athletes are also incredibly superstitious in ways that aren’t always logical.
LeBron James has an interesting pregame ritual, according to his former teammate Anthony Davis. When LeBron gets to the arena, he’ll lay out his uniform and all his accessories on the floor of the locker room and leave it all there until it gets closer to game time. Everyone has to walk around all his stuff.
I’m reading a book on Clayton Kershaw. On his start days, he eats a turkey sandwich, and he sets his workout and prep schedule down to the minute. He gets very upset when his rhythm is thrown off. Kershaw’s teammates and coaches know not to talk to him, unless they’re OK with getting a mean scowl in return.
What other athletes had notable or eccentric game day rituals? Did you ever have a pregame routine? Was there a certain way you had to put on your uniform or equipment?
Thanks, Mike — another really great topic this week!
There are dozens — more probably — of athletes with their own particular quirks or habits or routines, and I’m anxious to hear who the readers bring up, but I’ll just go with a personal anecdote. As you might imagine, as one with OCD, routines are very important to me, and that applies as well to my most recent sports foray: curling. I won’t get too deep, but everything from the way I choose my outfit to my pre-match meal I pre-plan, which is easy enough when I’m just playing at my local club. When I’m at a bonspiel or friendly, and I’m not at my “home” rink, I do my level best to make sure my pre-match routine is as close as possible to my usual routine. If my rink loses and I’m wearing a certain combo, I will never repeat that combo (whereas I’ll ride winning combos as long as the streak lasts). I could go on, but I’m sure you get the idea. And I’m guessing more than a few of you can relate. But…
I’m very anxious to hear how our readers answer the question, either about a pro or themselves. Fire away!
First one that comes to mind for me( I’m an Orioles fan) is Jim Palmer’s pancakes for breakfast on days he pitched link
I remember the story from SI for Kids when Jason Giambi was still on the A’s, that he’d have two double cheeseburgers and fries before every game. Justin Verlander to my knowledge still always eats Taco Bell before every start.
Wade Boggs… The Chicken Man! For eating chicken before every game.
When I was a catcher, before the first pitch, I always put a handful of loose dirt in my mitt. This made the first pitch appear like it came in so fast that smoke puffed out of the mitt like a Bugs Bunny cartoon. Total 12 year old psychological warfare, but it became a thing.
Sticking with the food theme: Wade Boggs ate chicken before every game, culminating with his recipe book, “Fowl Tips.”
I knew if one of my favorite teams was playing a recognized powerhouse, to shut off the damn game because I was jinxing them.
I love tennis but after the 2009 US Open final when Roger Federer lost a 2-sets to 1 lead against Juan Martin Del Potro, I can’t watch live matches anymore. I was sure – absolutely CERTAIN – until the very last point that Roger was going to win that match. I was so heartbroken when he lost and kind of blamed myself, so now I’ll usually only watch matches if I know they end the way I want them to. That way I can’t jinx my favorite players.
I was CONVINCED that my dad was bad luck. I can’t remember how many times I tried to eject him from the TV room when it felt like the tide was turning.
H.S. Head basketball coach…. before every practice and game I take 5-10 minutes to find a calm place to be all alone and meditate about our practice/game plan and focus on the task ahead of us. (I always did that as a player too) Old habits are hard to break.
I picked up meditation during halftime in college. I’ve got a fairly specific pregame ritual that doesn’t include time for meditation, but I really enjoy getting a few minutes off to the side to relax and reset for the second half.
I like that
h.s. soccer coach, I do this for big games and it is very effective.
I play ultimate frisbee, and while I (mostly) don’t have a longstanding pregame ritual, I get very into superstition from season to season, i.e., once I win with a certain pregame routine, I won’t change it for the rest of the season. Usually, that means a specific order to my pregame playlist, one song while in the car, another while lacing up my cleats, one for my first jog and stretch, another for pregame drills.
The funniest ritual however, was when I was talking with an ex on the phone in the car before the season opener, and then my team won, so naturally I had to call them during the drive over every week for the rest of the season. We had split amicably enough, and they were more than understanding once I mentioned that my team was going undefeated.
Ha!
How did the season end??? If the team lost during the season, did you still continue the pre-game call??
When I was a kid playing in a house roller hockey league, I liked brushing my teeth right before playing. Minty fresh mouth guard!
I put toothpaste in my mouth guard a few times when I was in anklebiters. Other kids put *chocolate syrup*
Back when I was a decent broomball player (3ish years ago) I would try to repeat meals, socks, etc. if I scored th3 week before. I put off my first poat-COVID haircut in part because I was playing so well.
Not the worst habit
As a hockey goalie I have a usual ritual for putting on my equipment. Left knee pad, right knee pad, left skate, right skate, etc. However, if I don’t play well, I may switch it up for the next game. But it would be right, left, right, left. I go back to the normal routine eventually.
I wonder how consistently we put on our clothes every day, subconsciously?
When I played softball, I had two things written on the underbill of my cap: “H3” (the 3 should be superscript), short for “Hits Hits Hits”, which was our team chant at the beginning of each offensive inning. The other thing was “PFB”, which was a reminder to myself to be Patient, have Faith in my swing, and Breathe.
My batting ritual was to step into the box and hold my hand up to the pitcher in a “hang on there, friend” gesture until I got myself settled. I didn’t realize I was doing it so much until a couple of my teammates started to imitate the move every time I got up to bat.
Kids won’t know the joys of writing cap bill notes, since New Era changed to black underbills 15 years ago
Kids won’t know the joy of so many things!
It’s a shame about cap bills being black. Those little messages to myself were like a secret kind of superpower.
They do make metallic gold/silver sharpies.
When my daughter was playing 12U softball we put BAGB on the underside of her visor. She just finished her 1st college season and has it on every piece of headwear ever since.
It stands for Be A Grizzly Bear not a teddy bear.
There was a throwaway line from a Nike commercial from like 2009 where Chris Paul is telling his teammates “Be aggressive!!” and I still remind myself that.
Good stuff everyone!
I play 16-inch softball (you know, the Chicago game played with bare hands) so I bought some rosin powder to help my grip. It reminds me of the pregame rituals of two greats, Jordan and LeBron link link
About the only pregame ritual I had was listening to music…either in the car, or later on with Walkmans or iPods. I didn’t have a set playlist, because I didn’t want a strict routine. The less of a routine, the less aggravation if something disrupts it.
I started with up-tempo music (hype music, as they say these days), but that made me too jumpy and tight. I switched to smoother music and found myself focusing better. Some slow Gap Band or Earth Wind & Fire did the trick, depending on my mood. Another time I listened to slow classical music before a pickup basketball game, and I was In The Zone. The game seemed to slow down for me, and I was making almost all of my shots, no matter how ridiculous they were.
These days I’d probably add Yacht Rock to my pregame options.
I’m the same way, when i wrestled in high school i found mellow relaxing music got me in a much better headspace then the ultra aggressive metal and rap all my teammates listened too. The last song i would always listen to was soulshine by the Allman Brothers. For home meets we were supposed to be able to pick the music we walk out to before the match, all of my choices were rejected for not sending the right message to my opponent, so i got to walk out to a random Metallica song.
Zach Osborne would puke before supercross/motocross races and part of Josh Allens pregame ritual involves throwing up.
When goaltender Patrick Roy played for the Canadiens and later the Avalanche, he would always hop over the blue line when skating to and from his net, believing it was bad luck to skate directly over it.
As part of my pregame routine, I always had a single short espresso before my sports games.