No Football Without Scrod

College athletes are by nature extremely competitive and strive to win. They are always in a quest to improve their abilities, thereby gaining an edge on their opponents.

While most of their training involves practicing, lifting weights or running, there are also unknowns--perhaps dead spots on the court or rocks in the field. These factors can completely alter the course of a game but cannot be controlled.

In an effort to gain power over these, even if it is only mental, athletes often adopt superstitions.

"What I shoot is based on so many variables: state of mind, weather. You latch on to things that give you comfort," says senior Joel Radtke, the captain of the Harvard men's golf team.

For Radtke these things are lucky ball markers, calcium supplements and, last year, a pair of lucky pants. Radtke also refrains from leaving his bag farther down the fairway when he tees off, as taking only one club and one ball would place unwanted pressure on him for hitting the ball in play.

Another reason that athletes perform rituals is to relieve stress before a game.

Freshman field hockey player Judy Collins always has a Lemon-Ice Gatorade before her games.

Freshman football player Kane Waller, meanwhile, always likes to have the same pregame meal. In the few instances where he was unable to have his usual dish of baked scrod and rice, his performance was mixed.

"Sometimes it affected me while other times it didn't," Waller says.

Waller also has a specific way of dressing for each game. He starts with his right leg pads, then his left leg and then shoes. Waller then puts on the t-shirt he wears every game before finishing dressing.

Craig Macdonald, a freshman on the hockey team, taps the posts of his team's net before each period, while junior basketball player Kyle Snowden listens to the same CD before each game.

Some sports have superstitions that different teams within it share. Rally caps--hats turned backwards or inside out--are common in baseball, and hockey players often put salt and pepper on their sticks. Many track runners don't wear socks in their spikes. And a somewhat more disgusting pan-sport habit is neglecting to wash, whether it be shirts, socks or equipment.

Many superstitions are initiated by slumps. MacDonald took his hockey stick to bed to break out of a dry streak in high school. In the next game he played, he scored three goals.

During one tournament, Radtke happened to pick up a piece of trash on a hole and then birdied it. He then proceeded to pick up trash on every hole the entire week. He lost the tournament in the last round after becoming very nervous since there was no trash on the course.

Sometimes, performance is a secondary consideration in an athlete's superstitions. It becomes more of a way to relax one's mind.

Darren Rankin, the men's basketball captain, gets worried if not everything goes according to plan.

He has had Mountain Dew before every game since his summer leagues in high school. If game time approaches and he still hasn't had his Mountain Dew, he'll get anxious and earnestly try to find some.

Overall, Radtke says, that golfers have the most superstitions. He believes that this is because the amount of time when there is action is only a small proportion of the whole match. Most of the time is spent walking and waiting, and during that time the players have time to think about what is helping their game, and what's not.

The members of the men's golf team all wear "No Fear" hats, and the saying has become the team's motto. It is almost a way for the team to remind itself that a player's state of mind is just as integral as conditioning.

That and finding trash on the course.

Bo Williams contributed to the reporting of this article.