Spectator Superstitions: A Personal Account of My Families Odd Traditions

It's hard for me to remember when our silly sports traditions started, but I do know it must have been etched in my mind at a young age. I guess one of the very first memories I have is my Father putting Jeff Gordon's 1:16 scale die cast replica car upside down before every Winston Cup race. You see my father didn't like Jeff Gordon but collected die casts, I guess his thought was by putting the seemingly harmless children's toy upside down, in some way could contribute to fluke engine failure. Jeff was far too talented to make a stupid decision so hoping for situations out of his control was the only choice my Father, a Dale Jarrett fan had. Nascar is just one of a few sports we watch that has contributed to my families superstitions and just one instance. As a family we have come up with so many ridiculous superstitions it's hard to keep up!

Meet "Bucc", he's the weird skeleton figure to the left wearing a number 55 Derrick Brooks jersey. Bucc came about 3 years ago as my Mom was shopping for Halloween decorations. After Halloween was over we really liked Bucc, but where was he to go? My Mom (being the smallest framed person in our family) donated her new Derrick Brooks jersey to Bucc and it was that jersey that transformed him from a seasonal decoration to a Buccaneers mascot! Bucc is a very important part of the cheer leading squad, every time the Buccaneers score Bucc sings and dances to a few classic songs, my favorite being Rick James' Super-freak. Since the first Bucc others have been made. My Mom shared our family mascot with someone at work who then created look alike Buccs and sold them at tailgate parties outside Raymond James Stadium. He was a hit. Rumor has it that a Tampa Bay Buccaneer warming up by running around Raymond James Stadium spotted one of the look a like Buccs and had to stop and watch him do his victory dance.

Bucc isn't the only football related traditions that we have had, in fact there are many, most of which change every year! For instance last year my Mom missed the opening kick off of a Buc's game. The Buc's went on to win that game ( one of the very few they won last year) and so a new tradition was started. Mom was not allowed to watch the opening kick off anymore that season. Obviously it didn't do any good for the Buc's but as avid fans it put our minds at ease and we were optimistic during the game despite the Buc's horrific record!

When I married my husband I knew very little about Hockey but have since come to understand and love the sport. Last year the Buffalo Sabres' (my husband's favorite team) had a very good chance of going to the Stanley Cup Finals. I wore my husbands white sabres hat through most of their season,for good luck. One game I noticed that the bill of the hat was facing the opposing teams goal so I would switch the hat every period to appease my strange superstition. Although they didn't go to the Stanley Cup Finals they were awarded the Presidents Trophy. I didn't wear the hat this year and so far they are 0-2 this season, I think I better wear the hat!