Ten sports stars and their bizarre pre-game rituals

[steven johnson]

Hey! If it works, it's OK with me.

19 May 2009 by Peter Aldhous
Many athletes feel obliged to perform bizarre rituals before competing. Experts say that sometimes these behaviours can stray into obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD) and can even force players out of competition.
A number of sports stars have confessed to the odd habits that help them stay focused. Here are 10 famous examples compiled by psychiatrist Thomas Newmark of Cooper University Hospital in Camden, New Jersey, and New Scientist staff.

1. Soccer star Kolo Toure, central defender for Arsenal and the Ivory Coast, likes to be last onto the pitch.

2. Curtis Martin, running back for the New York Jets in the US National Football League, reads Psalm 91 before each game.

3. In the 1998 soccer World Cup, French defender Laurent Blanc would kiss the shaven head of goalkeeper Fabien Barthez before the kick off of each game.

4. Marshall Faulk, former running back with the Indianapolis Colts and the St Louis Rams, habitually wore all black on the way to the stadium.



http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn17158-ten-sports-stars-and-their-bizarre-pregame-rituals.html

[LisaM]

1. Remember how Patrick Roy would jump over the lines

When he was skating to the goal?

[joeybee12]

2. Step on a crack, break your mother's back...n/t

[Onceuponalife]

3. The thing I hate

is the fidgety behavior of some batters between pitches. Does Nomah really have to unfasten and fasten his stoopid batting glove velcro in between EVERY pitch?? And I really don't need to see David Ortease spit into his glove and slam his hands together while he prepares to strike out a hundred times. And just stop that oh so sincere sign of the cross every time you arrive safely at a base, (fill in blank ballplayer here).

[Captain Hilts]

4. Yeah, that's GOT to stop. Nomar was/is the WORST. nt