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    Players and fans alike have their ways of avoiding bad luck. Some sports superstitions are stranger than others. For example, basketball superstar Michael Jordan (a graduate of North Carolina) always wore his blue North Carolina shorts under his Bulls uniform for good luck.

    Baseball players may be the most superstitious. Pitcher Turk Wendell brushes his teeth and chews licorice between every inning. Wade Boggs would eat only chicken the day of a game. Former pitcher Mark “The Bird” Fidrych used to play with the dirt on the mound and talk to himself and the ball before he pitched. Red Sox shortstop Nomar Garciaparra gets dressed the same way every day, makes sure to step on each dugout step with both feet, and tugs at his batting gloves and taps his toes during each at-bat.

    There are lots of common superstitions in baseball. For example, spitting into your hand before picking up the bat is said to bring good luck. On the other hand, it is bad luck if a dog walks across the diamond before the first pitch. Similarly, lending a bat to a fellow player is a serious jinx.