Rituals Essay, Research Paper

Rituals

Rituals are essential to an athlete to help him or her succeed. Most athletes have rituals that take place before, during, or after a sporting event but some are not as obvious.

There are many people who have pregame rituals. One of my pregame rituals is showering before every football game. I don t tend to do this for basketball or any other sport. I wore the same shirt underneath my football uniform, which was my purple playboy bunny cut off t-shirt. I don t have to do these things its just something that I choose to do. Ted Dupay, a basketball player at the University of Florida, has some pregame rituals. He showers four times and drinks two pots of coffee before every game. Some people throw up and or pray before a game. As you can see there is many different things that could be pregame rituals.

During a sporting event, more and more people have rituals. Deion Sanders, a professional football player for the Dallas Cowboys, looks upon the lord to lead him straight to the end zone. Once he reaches the end zone he thanks God and praises him. Athletes during sporting events talk a lot of garbage and try to intimidate each other by getting right in the opponent s face and making sure he or she realizes that they are present. Last year the Atlanta Falcons had a touchdown dance called the Dirty Bird and if you scored a touchdown, you did the dance.

After the final buzzer goes off some of the post game rituals take place. Some athletes in football gather in a huddle consisting of athletes from both teams to worship God. Most teams show true sportsmanship when everyone, no matter win or loss, congratulates each other. In the locker room some players pray once again while others do their own thing.

Everyone is different and unique in ones own way. No matter if you a Randy Moss doing a touchdown dance, or Jeff Gordon kissing his wife, everyone has some sort of ritual before, during, or after a sporting event.