Sports fans have never been known for being rational. We spend several months of the year screaming at our TV’s, feeling genuine anxiety from events over which we have no control.
Our moods rise and fall with the performance of our teams, deaf to the insistence of our more sensible friends that it’s “just a game.” Some sports fans are superstitious, too, and this characteristic expresses itself most potently during the playoff season. Whether we have to wear our lucky jersey, sit in our lucky chair, or perform some arcane pregame ritual, we make sure to do whatever it takes to give our team that extra bump of good fortune during the most critical games.
Tonight, is a critical game for the Washington Capitals as they face the rival Pittsburgh Penguins in Game Seven of the second round. The stakes have never been higher. With a win, the Caps become the first Washington sports team to advance to the conference finals since 1998. With a loss, their season comes to a close, and one of the greatest rosters in Capitals history will have played its final game.
Alongside the Wizards’ Game Five matchup in Boston and the Nationals’ regional showdown with the Orioles, there has been talk that tonight is DC’s biggest sports night in recent memory.
With all that in mind, what superstitions will you folks be adhering to tonight? What pregame rituals have resulted in Capitals victories in the past? The Caps are an immensely talented team, but hockey by nature is a game subject to chance and bounces, and Washington needs all the good mojo it can get (and if Marcus Johansson can pot a few goals tonight, that wouldn’t be too bad either).
