Professional athletes, by definition, while I love them, are not normal. They spend their entire young lives in a fishbowl, alternately worshipped and torn down by an ever-braying chorus of onlookers. It should come as no surprise, then, that many jocks develop unusual coping mechanisms, quite often involving superstitions. Check out my five Hall of Famers who use a little juju for good luck.
1) Mike Bibby--Atlanta Hawks
There are many appropriate places for pro athletes to engage in banal, if necessary, acts of personal hygiene. At home, for instance, or in the privacy of one's luxury vehicle, But this guy chooses to trim his nails when he's on the bench. What started as a nervous tick that manifested itself in fingernail clipping has warped into a must-do-it compulsion while he waits for his turn on the court.
2) Wade Boggs
Every jock has a go-to pre-game meal. During his long and successful baseball career, however, Boggs stuck to his dining ritual more strictly than anyone else: he ate chicken, chicken, and nothing but chicken.
3) Caron Butler--Washington Wizards/Dallas Mavericks
Pro teams will generally tolerate any supersition until-and unless-it affects the player's well-being. And so it was that Butler's career-long ritual of downing a 2 liter bottle of Mountain Dew before and during every game eventually met its tragic end..yes, that much sugar and caffeine leads to bloating. When he switched from the Wizards to the Mavs, he took up gnawing on plastic straws instead.
4) Tom Chorske and Bruce Gardiner--Ottawa Senators
Buried in a deep scoring slump, Gardiner asked Chorske to help him break out of it. Chorske instructed him to "flush" his hockey stick "down" the toilet in advance of every game; only then, Chorske reasoned, would the stick respect its owner. It worked! His luck turned and he went on a scoring streak.
5) John Henderson--Jacksonville Jaguars
Defensive linemen deliver and absorb tons of hits per game, Henderson figured that one more couldn't hurt. First to fire him up, and then to sustain the luck it brought, he has the assistant trainer, Joe Sheehan, slap him in the face before every game.
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