FUNNY SPORTS QUOTES \ Source: jhunewsletter.com

The strange and disturbing rituals of Hopkins sports teams

Out of Left Field
By: Demian Kendall
Posted: 5/1/08

I'm fully convinced that the Patriots lost the Superbowl because I switched seats at halftime. Because I got a haircut and shaved my beard before the game. Because my roommate got a new TV and I had to re-arrange the Patriots figures that previously sat atop it.

I wore the same Tom Brady jersey and the same New England knit cap (both unwashed all season) for every single game in the 2007 season. I covered myself in my emergency lucky blanket when games were close.


The sports world is one rich in ritual and superstition, not only for those die-hard fans who watch each game, but also for the players who actually suit up and play. This week, I spoke with several Hopkins athletes to find out what specific rituals they go through before or during a game or match. Some of the ones I found were relatively conventional. Some were just plain weird.

I sat down with two varsity wrestlers, sophomores Kyle Keane and James Gettinger and asked them how they felt about any lucky charms or rituals that they perform before a match, only to find that they held two polar opposite views on the subject.

"I never brush my teeth before a match or a tournament, and I always try to do the same warm-up before a match," Keane said. A little bit gross, but it seems to have paid off, as the sophomore wrestler has found success in the sport in his first two years at Hopkins.

Gettinger, however, refused to believe that luck has anything to do with his performance. "You can't shower 24 hours before a weigh-in, but that's not superstition; that's science," he said. "You just go wrestle. No superstitions involved."

While the wrestlers' habits may not be the most hygienic, sophomore goalie Mike Gvozden for the Hopkins men's lacrosse team performs somewhat healthier rituals for his pre-game.

"The night before a game I throw away all film and scouting reports on the team we are to play," he said. "I also go get Rita's Italian Ice with a few of my teammates. The day of the game I don't really have any rituals other than listening to music. I usually roll with Jordin Sparks, Michelle Branch and Natasha Bedingfield."

Even the top athletes at Hopkins aren't beyond performing a few superstitious acts before they play. Nationally ranked sophomore tennis player Dave Maldow has a very precise routine that he follows before and during each match.

"In between sets, I'll go towel off in the corner," he said. "Before a point, if I'm serving, I have a ritual of bouncing the ball five times, picking my spot on the court, then tapping my foot on the ground. Also, I listen to certain playlists like Van Halen or Jackson 5 before a match."

These rituals, however, aren't limited to the individual athlete. Several sports teams at Hopkins maintain long traditions in which the entire team participates.

Perhaps some of the oldest (and possibly strangest) traditions come from the generally wild characters of the Hopkins rugby team.

"After every match against another school the host team takes it upon themselves to procure beer for both teams to consume at the home team's rugby barracks," sophomore rugby player Christian Lewis said. "What ensues is a remarkably friendly (if not altogether civil) encounter, during which time both teams sing rugby songs. This is part of an old tradition and culture of friendly rivalry and thoroughly diseased senses of humor."

The team's so-called "diseased sense of humor" gets even sicker among the members of the actual team. Each rugby player, in their first semester on the team, receives a nickname which they will go by for the remainder of their time involved in the sport.

"These are unquestionably offensive or inappropriate, but a rite of passage for any young player," Lewis said. "Humiliating to the outside world in most cases, names such as Gaysian, Pinkd***, Tumor, Tits McGee and Tinkerbell have been given in the past. It further solidifies one's role in the greater social dynamic of this school (or most schools elsewhere) as a rugger."

Sophomore lacrosse attack Brett Bathras said, "We do this thing called 'the pipe game.' At the end of a practice before a game, we all get a ball (including our coaches and our trainers) and we shoot at the cage but aim to hit a pipe. We don't really read into what it means if certain people do or don't hit pipes but it's just something fun that we have to do before every game no matter if we won or lost the previous game."

Sophomore Dante Ross of the Hopkins crew team takes part in a tradition that has gone on for several years, a tradition that could eventually cost him the very shirt off his back.

"Betting shirts is still a thing that all the big-name crew teams do," Ross said. "All the teams have shirts and you go out on a race, whether you're racing head-to-head or with a few other boats, and you decide before the race 'hey, let's bet shirts.' So whoever wins the race gets the shirt off the back of all the other rowers. It's one of our big traditions."

Strange, unhealthy and often disgusting, this is what Hopkins athletes go through to do what they do. The rituals and superstitions off the field may even be as important as their performance on it.