Sports Betting and Superstitions
If there ever was a marriage made in Heaven, it would have to be gambling and superstition. Where else could you find people who will go days without changing their underwear in the hopes of getting rich?
There are so many superstitions that gamblers have, it would be impossible to list them all. Each individual gambler may have their own superstitious beliefs, so there's no actual way of knowing what many of them are.
But if you walk into a casino and spend some time just watching the people, you'll be able to spot a few of them. Craps players who go through a routine before each roll of the dice, people playing the slots who twist their hair before each pull, or blackjack players who have to be holding a drink in one hand as the cards are dealt. The list is endless.
Sports betting isn't immune to the world of superstition by any means and there are enough oddities performed by sports gamblers that will make anyone shake their head in disbelief.
It's actually frightening to think of grown men rummaging through the dirty clothes hamper to put on the exact same clothes as they wore yesterday before placing their online wagers. But believe me, it does happen.
Then there's the sports bettor who will only place wagers when wearing his lucky propeller hat from his youth, even though it fits more like a yarmulke than it does a cap nowadays.
These may be a little extreme, but there are more common practices shared by a large number of sports bettors, which we'll look at here.
Games and the Television
A number of sports betting superstitions involve the television. Some bettors believe they will not win a wager if they don't watch the game, while others are the exact opposite. Then there are others who believe if they turn the game off momentarily and then it back on, good things will happen for the team they wagered on while the channel is changed or the power is turned off.
Still others, insist upon complete silence while the game is on, as if somehow background noise will cause the team they wagered on to lose.
While I've never actually been in an NFL huddle and can't say for certain exactly what is said in one, I'd wager my last cent that it isn't "Well, there's noise coming from Moody's living room, so I think we should fumble here."
The Forum Jinx
If you ever have the desire to be called every profane name that you've ever heard, along with some that you probably haven't, simply go into any of the popular sports betting forums during the second quarter of a game and post what an easy winner such-and-such a team was. You will soon receive plenty of insults for doing the unthinkable, jinxing a bet.
The so-called logic here is that by posting a bet is a winner before its conclusion, you've somehow jinxed the bet, which is now going to lose for the sole reason that somebody posted it as a win.
But over time, bettors have realized the validity of the forum jinx and have come up with the brilliant concept of the reverse jinx. How this works is that the bettor will post that the opposite team is a mortal lock to win the game, sometimes immediately after the start.
If there's a game between Texas and Ohio State and you see a post in the first few minutes saying "Congratulations Texas bettors" you can be sure the person posting the message has a wager on Ohio State. But forum posters are a smart bunch and those who backed Texas realize they are attempted to be reversed jinxed and will offer congratulations of their own, a sort of reverse-reverse jinx, if you will. Either that, or they'll rely on the use of profane names.
I'll admit some of these postings can be quite humorous, but you really do have to wonder about somebody who truly believes a message on a forum will cause a particular wager to go down the drain.
There's plenty more I could write about, but it's getting close to game time and I need to change my drawers and put on my lucky hockey jersey before placing a few bets.
