So, I wrote about Midorifuji two days ago on my page at mattfurey.substack.com (please subscribe).
I wrote about how he was 10-0 in the current Sumo basho, a 15-day tournament held every two months in Japan.
And now, two days later, because of what I wrote, he’s 10-2.
Yep, it’s ALL my fault.
Did what I wrote really jinx him? I doubt it. But this is the way many of us are wired. We think that one little thing we do can make or break a winning or losing streak, even when we are not associated with the other person at all.
You’ll witness this superstition taking place in sports such as baseball, where vendors are hip to capitalizing on the ridiculous notions people have about cause and effect.
In Seattle, when the Mariners are losing in the latter innings, “Rally fries” are sold. Fans rush to buy French fries with the idea that when they do so, the team rallies to drive in the winning runs.
But these psychological antics don’t stop or start with fries. I’ve heard radio announcers say that whenever the team is down, if he/she gets a hotdog, it will change the outcome of the game.
Then there are the fans who turn their caps inside out, which signals to the cosmos, that their team is going to turn it around.
Several years ago, when I was a home plate club season ticket holder for the Tampa Bay Rays, a friend and fellow Yankees fan, texted. “Stay in your seat. Every time you get up to walk through the tunnel, the Rays hit a home run.”
This man wasn’t alone. Another Yankees fan wrote to tell me the same thing. Both were watching the game on the booby tube and saw me move around.
“Damnit Furey, stay in your seat,” the other fan wrote.
Man, I didn’t know I had that much power over the outcome of a game.
Superstition is a serious mind wharp. Yet, could this observation be connected to reality in ways we cannot fathom or explain?
Although I logically think not, sometimes I’m perplexed and go along with it.
Rally fries?
Do they really work? Or do they appear to work because enough people believe they do.
Another great one is to falsely proclaim the opposite of what you want to see happen in a game, as in, “We’re going to get crushed tonight.”
This negative proclamation upsets others who think your negative thoughts will effect the outcome of the game. But when the opposite happens, you gleefully sit back with a smile on your face.
“You’re using reverse psychology,” one fan told me.
“On who?” I question. “I’m not out there playing, or coaching.”
And yet, they still believe.
Rally fries, anyone?
Matt Furey
By the way, to learn the true secrets of rallying yourself to one victory after another, get yourself a copy of the Zero Resistance Living program – a true non-jinxer that will change your life for the better.
Last but not by any means the least – make sure you follow me at mattfurey.substack.com
