I never wear my team’s gear on game day. On Saturdays from August to December, there are a few things you will definitely see if you walk into the Tse household. On Texas game days, you’ll see my mom rolling her eyes as my dad yells at the screen, telling him, “you know the players can’t actually hear you right?” My youngest sister will be wearing her Michigan gear, because she’s the only one who wasn’t born in Texas, and you’ll probably notice my other sister wandering around at halftime, to check the score and go back up to her room. The one thing you won’t see is me in any Texas gear whatsoever. No jersey, no hat, no t-shirt, no shorts, socks, underwear, nothing.
Now, I wouldn’t say I’m the most superstitious fan out there. I don’t have a lucky meal, or a lucky shirt, but I do have a few superstitions. I always listen to my favorite song, Gettin’ Jiggy Wit It by Will Smith before games, I always wore one leg sleeve on my left leg during basketball games, and I never, NEVER, wear my team’s gear on a gameday, because if I do, they’re guaranteed to lose.
I obviously know that this doesn’t mean they’re necessarily going to win, but if I do wear my gear, they’re going to lose no matter what. I know you probably have some questions for me, such as: “Do you remember when you first started doing this?” and “have you ever broken your rules to test your theory?” The answer to both of those questions is yes.
The first time I realized that wearing my team’s gear during a game was a bad idea, was on June 18th, 2013. There I sat, in the living room with my dad, wearing my Tim Duncan jersey, as he was inexplicably taken out in the last seconds of the game. Then Chris Bosh grabbed a rebound and made a pass. A few days later, I wore the jersey again, and the Heat won their 2nd straight NBA finals. Right then and there, at 10 years old, I decided that I wouldn’t be wearing my Spurs stuff during games anymore.
Since then, if you saw me during the biggest wins of my favorite teams’ seasons, you wouldn’t have been able to tell that I was even a fan. As long as they win, I’m cool with it and when they lose while I’m representing, the superstition grows. Not only do I refuse to wear gear during the games, but I won’t wear gear at all on game day. Ever.
In November of 2013, I went to Austin with my dad to watch Texas play Oklahoma State at DKR. I wore not one, but two different Texas jerseys at once. Texas lost that game 38-13.
In 2016, I went to watch the Spurs play the Hornets after moving to Charlotte. This time, I decided to wear my Kawhi Leonard jersey. After one quarter, things were looking great. The Spurs were up by 21, and they held the Hornets to a measly 7 points. However, after an insane performance by Linsanity, the Spurs completely fell apart and lost 88-91.
After that, I decided never again, not even while I’m at a game will I ever wear anything for my favorite team. I’ve been to three Spurs games since, and I look like a casual bozo who doesn’t know ball every time, but they’re 3-0 in those games, so take that for what you will.
I have only broken my rule one time, for the Texas Longhorns, and it happened last November 13th, while they were on a 4 game losing streak, choking lead after lead in the 2nd half. They were looking to rebound against the lowly Kansas Jayhawks, and I thought fuck it, maybe I should try and change things up, just to see. Well, as you can probably imagine, things didn’t go well. They lost in overtime to the perennial bottom-dweller of the Big 12, and I couldn’t help but feel a little guilty as I scrolled through all of the “Texas isn’t back” memes on Instagram after the game.
I may be quite vocal about my fandom of the Giants, the Spurs, the Longhorns, and more, but you will never catch me repping them on gameday. Some people have a lucky jersey, hat, shirt, or anything else, but not me. What about you? What is your superstition about your favorite team? Let us know what you do on game day to help your team win, down below in the comments, and as always, LFG!