February 4, 2019

Finding Common Ground in Superstitions

                Okay, I’m comfortable admitting that having a Ph.D. does not preclude my willingness to give into practices that can best be described as superstitions.  Like most of my readers, I imagine that we were all exposed to a variety of superstitions as children.  Here are a few that I remember:

• When walking on a city sidewalk made of concrete and divided into sections, we were told “Step on a crack and you’ll break your mother’s back.”
• If you spill some salt, “you’re supposed to scoop up some and throw it over your back.”
• If you “open an umbrella inside, it will bring you bad luck.”

I gradually let go of many of the sayings that were embedded in my consciousness as I got older, but a few remain and occasionally surface. Recently when I was travelling on business, I landed in a heavy rain storm in New York, and I obviously opened my umbrella to try and ward off the worst of it.  When arriving at my hotel, I had a moment of pause when I went to open the umbrella to let it dry once I arrived in my room, and the “saying about opening it would bring me bad luck” passed through my heard.  But rationality or perhaps just my practical side won out and I indeed opened the umbrella and didn’t worry about it.

But here’s the story behind today’s Blog.  I live in the Greater Boston area, and for those of you who follow professional sports, you’ll probably recognize that Boston is a very unusual Sports Town.  We have major league teams representing us in Football (New England Patriots), Basketball (Boston Celtics), Hockey (Boston Bruins), and Baseball (Boston Red Sox).  For the last 20 years, we’ve lived in a bubble of talent, winning 11 national titles in 18 years.

More than 20 years ago in 1997, the Coach of the New England Patriots – Bill Parcells – succeeded in guiding the Patriots to their first Super Bowl where they eventually lost to the Green Bay Packers.  Once we won the first game that allowed the Team to move to the next playoff game, Parcells was aggressive in berating – bordering on ordering – all the fans that they had to follow the exact same routine that they had followed in the previous game that had a winning outcome for the Pats.

And, we all did what he told us to do.  I can remember my routine on the first Saturday game of the progressive playoff to the Super Bowl.  I had cleaned the house, went grocery shopping, made a soup in my Crock Pot, etc.   And for the next three weekends leading to the Super Bowl, I did exactly the same thing in the same order and at approximately the same time.

These rituals became and are still talking points among and between people of all walks of life.  For example, I was getting my hair cut the Saturday before this Sunday’s game.  My stylist asked me if I was going to watch the game, and I explained that I couldn’t because I was following the same routine I followed once it was clear that the Patriots had made it to the playoffs.  His response along with everyone in the shop was a loud and clear unified voice saying, “definitely don’t watch the game.”

There are so many funny stories like mine, and  I love it that no one is embarrassed to share what they do to honor the superstition that suggests that if we all do the same thing each week that we were doing on the team’s first playoff win, we’re helping the team. It’s understood that if you break the ritual you are obligated to follow, you are most definitely jinxing our team.

And what’s also great to notice, your level of education has nothing to do with your willingness to buy in.  I happened to be listening to the local NPR station while I was running errands one day last week.  The daily call-in show co-hosts Margery Eagan and Jim Braude were interviewing a very well-educated and accomplished journalist (Let’s name him Peter as I was driving while listening and didn’t catch his full name) who covers national and international news events.  Near the end of the interview, Margery asked him if he was going to watch the Super Bowl, and obviously he replied in the affirmative.

So she persisted and asked him if he and his family had any superstitious practices that they followed and would he be comfortable sharing them.  He jumped right in – and without missing a beat – told the story of how his family watches the games.  He, his wife, and college-age son watch the game on the TV that is located in the family room upstairs.  His college-age daughter watches the TV in their rec room in the basement with her friends.  There was no magic to how this got set up; it was just a reflection of where everyone in the family was during the first in a series of playoff games that the Pats kept winning.  In the game preceding the Super Bowl, when the Pats were playing for the AFC Title, during the half-time show, apparently Peter’s daughter came upstairs to get something to eat and his son immediately started yelling at her, telling her “she had to get back downstairs or she was going to jinx the Pats.”

So if haven’t convinced you about the depth of our superstitions in supporting the Pats’ victories, let me throw in one more jewel.  The Boston Globe and other news outlets periodically posted sayings from some of the Wayside Pulpits of local churches.  Here’s a sampling:

“Rams are to be slaughtered.”  Jer 51:40

“No one could rescue the ram from the Goat’s Power.”  Daniel 8:7 (G.O.A.T. = Greatest of All Time in reference to Quarterback Tom Brady.)

Other signs were a little less harsh; statements along the lines of “God doesn’t have a favorite sport’s team, but this Pastor does” which was followed by a game score showing a decisive victory for the Pats.

So we’re definitely in sports fever for the next several days here in Boston.  Tomorrow, Tuesday, is the celebratory Duck Boat parade that carries all of the Team and their support staff through the City of Boston.  Millions of people show up and it is great to be there in person or to watch on television.  The Mayor of Boston, Marty Walsh, tweeted shortly after the Pats’ victory, “Fire up the Duck Boats, we’re doing it again!”

Here’s what I love about the Patriots.  First, what an exquisite experience we the fans have been given that we have been able to witness this dynasty of excellence and superb execution of talent and ability for the last 18 years.  We all know it is a once-in-a-lifetime experience.  It is so uplifting to see how the men on the team can come together and play as a team.  Watching people of different races high five and hug each other when plays go well is so refreshing after being exposed to some of the hateful perspectives surrounding us from some of those in positions of power in DC.

Watching a team build their resilience throughout the year, the discipline and mantras they use to keep themselves on track is inspiring.

I’m happy to yield to the power of spirit and join a welcoming community that can put aside differences and genuinely connect with one another as we share how we pace and brace ourselves to survive the long build-up of pre-game pressures and the resulting anxieties.  Best of all, when we win, we can unite together and share in the celebration of an event that goes well beyond the winning of a football game.  Go PATS!