Please don’t tell us that you’re one of those superstitious, ritualistic, knock on wood kinda people. Well, the odds are actually pretty good that you’re a believer in sports jinxes. In fact, according to an Associated Press-Ipsos poll, one in every five fans tries to get lady luck on their team’s side.
You know what we mean: the lucky hat, the gameday jersey, the spinning in circles after a homerun, the freakin’ idiotic body paint, you get the idea.
The survey showed no real difference by gender, race or education in whether people try finding a way to help their team win. But those who do tend to be younger and make more money than those willing to risk letting the athletes determine a game’s outcome. They also are more likely to be single.
There was no significant difference among the fans of various sports in how superstitious they were, the poll showed.
Twenty-four percent of college basketball fans admitted to trying something lucky to help their team and 20 percent of professional basketball followers said the same thing. Fans of professional baseball, and of college and professional football, fell in between.
Professional football fell somewhere in between? We know that pro players don’t count as fans, but you go tell John Henderson that his pregame ritual is insignificant.
Links:
[MSNBC.com]: One in five fans believes in jinxes, survey says
