Superstitions. Many people believe in superstitions because they’ve grown up learning all the different ones. Black cats, going under ladders, and even splitting poles are some of the common ones. Athletes, however, share some of their own little superstitions during the season. The biggest one for the Bishop Noll basketball team is hitting the “Play Like A Champion” sign in the locker room before every game. The Notre Dame football team also does this at the beginning of each and every game; it’s just an old tradition. The players on the Bishop Noll basketball team also have their own individual superstitions, such as wearing the same socks everyday, not cutting their hair during the season and doing everything starting on the left side. By believing in these superstitions, the players think it might increase their chances of winning. But do they this really have an influence on the outcome of the game?

   Senior Julian Guerrero, who will be playing baseball at Prairie State College, and junior Larry Crisler, a basketball and baseball player, both have many superstitions that think they need to do in order to perform well year in and year out. But with two different sports, their superstitions are very different.

   “I love to listen to Taylor Swift before games,” Larry said. “Some people find it weird, but it gets me hyped.”

   For Larry, his superstitious nature started the day he had his first good game.

   “One game, I did really well and before the game I listened to Taylor Swift. I knew it changed something,” Larry said.

   Imagine if Michael Jordan did not wear his North Carolina shorts under his Bulls shorts. Would Michael have won 6 NBA titles?

   “If I don’t follow my routine, I think I will have a bad game,” Larry said.

   Julian has more of a physical superstition.

   “My number one superstition is when I’m pitching, and if one of the players touches the ball or throws it to me without me touching it first, I believe I will have a bad game,” Julian said.

   Although Julian considers his superstition to be pretty normal for a baseball player, he believes that there are some crazy traditions out there that athletes do.

   “The craziest superstition that I’ve ever seen was this one guy, whose last name was LeBron, who, every time he came up to bat, would take the batter line chalk and throw it up in the air thinking he was actually LeBron James.”