Superstitious sports fans, you are not alone

This past Sunday, my friend, who we will call O-Steve for privacy reasons, did something unnatural – at least unnatural to a non-sports fan. \nO-Steve decided that for lunch before the Minnesota Vikings game, he was going to get Subway like he did last week. But instead of going to the Subway near our house and getting the meal he wanted, he went to a more distant Subway and ordered the exact same thing as he did last week, despite disliking the bread.\nO-Steve isn’t crazy – he’s loyal. He didn’t want to jinx his beloved Vikings.\nA recent Associated Press survey showed that 24 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 college and professional football fell in between.\nAlong with the article, ESPN did a “SportsNation” poll asking fans if they have ever felt they jinxed their favorite team or athlete. Over 75 percent of people responded “yes” to that question.\nI definitely feel that those numbers are true. Almost all of my friends – myself included – do something superstitious to help our teams win, and I have no doubt that you do the same – whether you want to admit it or not.\nMy roommate, whom we established last week would be called Frank, and I are two prime examples of this statistic.\nFrank is such a diehard Pittsburgh Steelers fan that when he watches a game, he will yell at you for saying the extra point (that is dead straight going right through the uprights) is “good” before the refs put their hands up. He doesn’t want some magical act from a higher being to stop the ball from going through.\nFrank also has his pregame pump-up music routine he does before every intramural football game and would not let me attend this year’s playoff games, because last year the only playoff game I went to was the one they lost.\nAs for me, I do a lot of stuff to help ensure my teams’ success. \nI forbid to write about how well the Colts played against the Jaguars on Monday in fear that they will go bomb the Panthers game next Sunday. \nI forbid to talk about Peyton Manning at all unless it’s letting people know that his player profile picture makes him look like “Timmah!” from South Park. \nI recently talked about how bad the Pacers are in hopes of pulling a reverse jinx that will magically make them good this season – which, if true, will prove that God loves me.\nMore importantly, this week I almost committed the greatest sin an Indiana native can make to try to instigate a jinx. I came very close to writing about how great Tom Brady has been this season in hope that he will get injured next week so I never have to hear his name again. Of course, the Patriots are cheaters so they are probably taping me as I write this and will have a correct defensive strategy to prevent this jinx from working before this column hits the newsstands. \nToo bad the Colts don’t play the Vikings, though. I know I could help us win that game. I just need to slash O-Steve’s tires to prevent him from going to Subway.