Most people can understand the rules and regulations related to sports, but sports are much more than just touchdowns, goals and homeruns. Each sport has its own unique culture, and with culture comes tradition. Traditions in sports can range from the tame to the outrageous and bizarre. But the execution of these traditions can often be the most entertaining or fascinating aspect of a game. It takes a true fan…or a truly crazy fan.
Ignoring rookies
Scoring a point in sports would usually be a reason for a team to celebrate, but in one weird tradition in major league baseball, that isn’t the case. This tradition often baffles new baseball fans and even some rookies who aren’t familiar with it. When a rookie scores his first career homerun, after rounding the bases and returning to the dugout, the entire team in the dugout ignores the rookie and pretends nothing special happened. Hitting a first career homerun in baseball is a huge milestone, and it’s incredible for fans to watch an eager and excited rookie return to a dugout of disinterested teammates staring at their feet.
Rats on Ice
Most sports fans are aware of the tradition of growing playoff beards in support of their favorite NHL team or throwing hats on the ice after a player has scored three goals for a hattrick in ice hockey, but some NHL teams have some pretty weird traditions of throwing other objects on the ice. The Florida Panthers throw rubber rats after a win on home ice. The tradition started during the Panthers’ run for the Stanley Cup in the 1996 Stanley Cup Finals Series. A rat ran across the Panthers’ locker room, and player Scott Mellanby killed it with his hockey stick. Mellanby scored two goals during the game, and fans made the rat as a good luck charm for the team.
Octopi on Ice
The Detroit Red Wings have an even stranger tradition at Joe Louis Arena: throwing octopi onto the ice. This tradition began during the 1952 Stanley Cup Playoff Series; back then, the NHL only had six teams, and a team would need to win two best-of-seven series, totaling eight wins, to reach the Stanley Cup, as opposed to the 16 games a team would need to win today. The eight tentacles of the octopus represented the eight wins the Red Wings needed. After the octopus was thrown on the ice, the Red Wings went onto sweep the series, and the octopus became a symbol of victory for the team. Fans are known to sneak octopi into the stadium to hurl onto the ice during games for good luck.
Haka Dance
Like professional sports, college sports are rich in tradition, and some tend to get a little strange. The Hawaii Warriors football team has the haka, a ceremonial dance. The entire football team performs the traditional Māori war cry exactly 20 minutes before kickoff and performs another version after a win in their home stadium. The University of Hawaii adopted this ritual after their wildly successful 2006 season.
Jumping Around
But strange traditions in college football aren’t limited to just team participation; some schools have adopted weird rituals for their fans as well. At the University of Wisconsin’s home stadium, Camp Randall, it is tradition for the stadium to play House of Pain’s “Jump Around” between the third and fourth quarters. Once the beat drops, the entire student section at Camp Randall erupts into a mosh-pit like atmosphere, shaking the stadium. UW has been jumping around the stadium since 1998 to pump the Badgers up for the last quarter of play.
Cutting the Net
A major tradition in college basketball that new fans might not be aware of is cutting the net after winning a championship. The team will literally cut the nets used in the game from the hoop and keep them as souvenirs. Some schools will display the nets alongside the respective trophy, and others will even cut the net up into smaller pieces to distribute throughout the championship team. The rumor is that this tradition was started in 1947 by North Carolina State coach Everett Case. After NC State won the Southern Conference title, Case wanted to take the nets as a souvenir for his players. So, the NC State team lifted Case on their shoulders so he could cut the net. It has become customary for many championship teams to do the same.
Sports would be much less entertaining without the quirky traditions that are found in different leagues and among different teams. And even though some are more obscure or bizarre than others, they are still important to many athletes and are a defining part of sports culture.
