Michael Jordan Superstition In Sports

785 Words2 Pages

Superstitions Whether it be seeing a black cat, a lucky four leaf clover, or friday the thirteenth people think that in some way that something unfortunate is going to happen. The definition of superstition, according to the Merriam-Webster dictionary, is a belief or practice resulting from ignorance, fear of the unknown, trust in magic or chance, or a false conception of causation. Superstitions and other rituals affect almost all of us; they may be imaginary, but they are always deep in our minds. With belief in superstitions it can affect the outcome of an event by giving a person confidence in oneself. Each and every person that plays or has played a sport has probably come across some type of superstitious ritual, or SR. This article shows that: “80.3% of recruited professional athletes mentioned one or more SR they performed before a game, with an average of 2.6 rituals per person” (Brevers, Bernard, Xavier, and Frederic). These rituals range from always eating out before a performance, to never washing your socks, and to replaying the whole day of the last time your team won. When these actions are carried out the person thinks that if these things keep happening, then …show more content…

Michael Jordan is one of those people. HIs belief was that if he wore his old University of North Carolina shorts underneath his NBA shorts because he believed that they gave him good luck. There are also athletes that believe the most unusual things will give them enough support to help them win a game or a fight. In this case, Mixed Martial Arts fighter Lyoto Machida feels that the best thing to do is consume his own urine every single day. His belief is that his urine has medicinal properties and these beliefs were passed down from his own family. A superstition can be practically anything that a person believes will affect the outcome in the future, or just as a good luck

Open Document