Never mess with a winning streak.

Damn, the Earthquakes played well last week – and we won, we actually won!  Despite some spectacular saves, Wondo and Corrales squeezed two goals past Chicago’s Sean Johnson, and we bade a not-so-fond farewell to that thirteen game losing streak. In a cathartic post-game ceremony, Wondo helped bury sundry losing streak mementos under an RIP marker in the dirt in front of Kara’s cup cake truck at Buck Shaw stadium.  In the excitement of last Saturday’s win, in an unfortunate malapropism, the San Jose Earthquakes’ hastily written Facebook entry read: “Now that the winless streak has been buried, it's on to the next one!”, to which I screamed “Noooo - let’s build a winning streak!”  Let’s not get ahead of ourselves: technically, one game does not constitute a winning streak, but we have at least taken this first step to start a new one.

Winning streaks are revered by players of many sports and many engage in a diverse range of pre-game rituals - superstitions even - to maintain them.  In the 1989 baseball movie Bull Durham veteran catcher Crash Davis tells rookie pitcher ‘Nuke’ Laloosh “never mess with a winning streak” and to respect the streak “because they don’t happen that often”.  When they do happen, many players develop obsessive pre-game routines; it's an integral part of their compulsion to win and they try everything possible to keep winning.  Even British anthropologist Desmond Morris weighed in on the subject when he wrote ‘The Soccer Tribe’: “[Players] seek additional aid of a kind their trainers and managers cannot give them – the supernatural aid of superstitious practices. They have no idea how such actions can help, but they perform them all the same, ‘just in case’. They frequently call them ridiculous and stupid, but they dare not omit them”.

Mwah!

I suspect that in the back of every player’s mind, as he’s pulling on his favorite unwashed shirt, is the most cited example of a successful pre-game ritual (if you believe in this kind of thing): the one that won the 1998 World Cup for France.  Les Bleus became superstitious about goalkeeper Fabien Barthez's dome when team captain Laurent Blanc kissed the keeper on his bald head and France went on to win the game.  After that first victory, the pre-game ritual was maintained, and Barthez was planted with kisses from his team mate before each subsequent game, all the way to the final.  Other notable superstitions include Chelsea captain John Terry, who always pees in one particular urinal at Stamford Bridge - if it’s taken then he waits, even when others are free.  Former England striker Gary Lineker didn't shoot at the goal during warm ups because he didn’t want to waste a goal, preferring to save them for the game.  My own favorite comment on the subject came from journeyman Adrian Mutu, who said “Curses cannot touch me because I wear my underwear inside out”.

Some of these rituals extend beyond eating the same pre-match meal or putting on your socks in a particular order.  England captain Bobby Moore insisted on being the last person in the dressing-room to put on his shorts before kick-off.  This did not go unnoticed by team mate Martin Peters, who was fascinated by the way Moore stood around holding his shorts, waiting for everyone else to finish dressing.  Peters would wait until Moore had put on his shorts, before taking off his own again.  At this point a frustrated Moore would feel compelled to take off his own shorts, and wait until Peters had re-dressed completely before he could put his own shorts back on.  This tends towards more obsessive compulsive behavior, a trait to which David Beckham has already confessed.  Beckham has such a thirst for symmetry that he will discard cans of soda to maintain an even number in his refrigerator, and their labels are all lined up and facing outward – not really a pre-game ritual, but I surmise that there's a comprehensive, three page, game day checklist (laminated) waiting before each game for the Galaxy club house manager.

Neigh Sayer?

Coaches have also been known to maintain their own superstitions.  In 2006, Manchester City was having a bad run of luck and manager Stuart Pearce could not say no to his seven year old daughter (curiously named Chelsea) who insisted that he took her toy horse Beanie as a good luck mascot to the touchline.  After City won the match, superstition took over and Beanie ended up alongside him in the technical area for several games until City were eventually defeated.  Beanie was considered so successful by the City fans that his (or her) name was chanted for many games during that successful run.  Meanwhile, superstitious French coach Raymond Domenech took players’ star signs into consideration before selecting his team, which drew criticism from the players who'd been left out simply because they were born on the 'wrong' date.  This French soccer superstition wasn’t nearly as successful as the Barthez smooches; we all remember what happened to the French team at the 2010 World Cup – no kisses from Anelka.

Turtle Power
(Kelley L Cox at CenterlineSoccer.com)

The Earthquakes are working on another streak – four consecutive sellouts - and I wonder how the fans’ hopes for a long and fruitful winning streak will be sustained in the remaining home games by superstitious pre-game rituals.  Perhaps we will notice that Frank Yallop has a lucky Wondo bobble-head tucked under his arm as he kisses Jon Busch’s new, clear, plastic mask.  Yes, I think Jon will be under peer pressure from his superstitious team mates to keep his teenage mutant ninja turtle mask on until we lose - it really works with his green shirt.  I will dress in my lucky socks (unwashed): left one first and the right sock inside out.  I will line up the labels on the beer bottles at the various vendors around Buck Shaw and consume any leftovers that might make up an odd number – a tough job but someone has to do it.  Pre-match fare will be a pulled pork sandwich and fries (no garlic; dipped in mayo - it’s a Euro-thing), and then I’ll continue directly to the cup cake truck, whereupon I will carefully eat all of the delicious lemon icing first in a counter-clockwise direction, and taking care not to spill on my lucky T-shirt (also unwashed).

Will any of this ‘stuff’ make a difference to the length of a potential winning streak?  Probably not, but I will participate in my own new rituals.  Just in case.

Is it safe to watch soccer?

The San Jose Earthquakes playoff hopes are in the ICU hanging on by a thread, technically still alive but still six points adrift of the final playoff spot.  These are tense times for Quakes fans as we pace up and down in the hospital waiting room fiddling nervously with our scarves.  The significance of each game increases with each passing weekend, and our adrenaline is kicking in at ever higher levels, energizing our nervous system and mediating our ‘fight or flight’ response; right now the team is fighting for its life in the postseason.

The September schedule contains two ‘six-pointer’ games with teams that lie between the Quakes and the playoffs: the September 10th home game against Chicago Fire and a challenging away game at JELD-WEN Stadium against Joey, his perilously sharp chainsaw and the Portland Timbers.  Five of the remaining six games are to be played against teams with better records; the sole exception is the New England Revolution.  If our adrenaline levels are high now, they’ll soar even higher for as long as we stay in the playoff mix and until our electronic calculators tell us we’re mathematically eliminated.

Going down the stretch, it will be necessary to keep the team healthy, and there’s an abundance of published scientific research into the care and feeding of soccer players, or in coaching parlance: physical conditioning, injury prevention and nutrition.  There are some interesting reads for nerds in the medical journals on the prevalence of soccer injuries – I was particularly fascinated reading one comprehensive review of injuries and illness that occurred during the 2010 World Cup in South Africa.  Not surprisingly, the rate of injuries during a match is ten times higher than during training, but I also discovered that the rate of injury increases as the game progresses: 70% of injuries occur in the second half of a game, presumably as fatigue sets in.  Mysteriously the authors felt the need to include data that showed there were no player injuries during half time.  That might seem more than a little obvious, but during the match intervals I have to think there were at least some hurt pride among the players and severely strained vocal cords, historically the most frequent injury occurring in England football managers.

Hairdryer injuries are possible...

Meanwhile, up in the stands, how is the fans’ health and welfare?  I was surprised to find that there is also a lot of scientific data on the physiological effects of watching soccer games.  This research is published in erudite medical journals and has the unexpected appeal of conflict and controversy – not unlike the game of soccer itself.  A German study, published in the reputable New England Journal of Medicine no less, showed a 2-4 fold increase in the number of cardiovascular events requiring hospital treatment during the 2006 World Cup.  The graphs presented show spectacular spikes in the number of German cardiac patients admitted in the 12 hours immediately after games involving the German team.  In contrast, a subsequent Italian study determined that, after all, soccer is “just a game” - there was no elevated risk of heart attack in Italian patients during the same World Cup and two European Championships.  I will leave you to draw your own conclusions on the underlying reasons that the fans of these two great national soccer teams apparently responded so differently, but based on the data I am eating lots of pasta and avoiding bratwurst for the rest of the season.

My own favorite publication on the effect of watching soccer is “Haemodynamic response in soccer spectators: is Scottish football exciting?” - I like it best for the pointed question it raises in its title.  Stalwart Hibs and Rangers fans were sent off to their SPL matches hooked up to small blood pressure monitors, and the data they elicited were compared to match events collated by an independent observer.  The take home message was that the emotional stress evoked by Scottish football is associated with significant increases in heart rate and blood pressure.  The highest level of excitement, equivalent to light aerobic exercise, occurred immediately after a goal was scored by the team that they supported.  The most important conclusion drawn by the authors was that Scottish soccer was thus proved to be exciting – I suspect that Scottish soccer fans don’t need a physician to tell them this.

Chocolate boot from Thornton's.

Quakes fans can make the most of this medical research as we prepare ourselves to support the team going into the final stretch of the 2011 season.  This Labor Day weekend there’s no game and we have an extra day to relax and recuperate.  We can also focus on reducing our risk of cardiovascular injury by making heart healthy choices – go for a grilled chicken taco instead of the carnitas burrito at the Buck Shaw food truck.  Thankfully, since chocolate has protective effects on the cardiovascular system, and reduces heart attack and stroke, we don’t need to feel guilty about that extra square of Scharffen Berger. 

As far as maintaining our physical fitness with aerobic exercise, join the 1906 Ultras and Casbah as they clap their hands above their heads in unison and then jump in place in the bleachers – Buck Shaw’s flexible wooden floor boards are perfect for cushioning the impact and reduce knee injuries.  While some recommend tea with honey to keep vocal cords lubricated for chants and songs, this can surely be replaced with beer: Blue Moon brews a Summer Honey Wheat Ale – perfect.  Muscular injuries can be easily prevented with some gentle elbow stretches before picking up and drinking the beer, and is particularly important at viewing parties for away games where much heavier glass pitchers are filled.  Yoga stretches will help loosen hamstrings and back muscles for the arduous ninety minutes on the bleachers – watch and learn from the players as they participate in their pre-match warm ups (Brad Ring has particularly good form in the Downward Dog).  Finally, in my own experience, stretching the hamstrings greatly reduces muscle strain from the jumping jacks I perform in response to many referee’s decisions. 

So, yes indeed – it is safe to watch soccer, and a little care and preparation will reduce the chances that any player, or fan, will get hurt.  Embrace your body chemistry as the Quakes fight for their playoff spot - it’s the adrenaline that fuels the exhilaration of a win and the anguish of a loss.  As we lace up our boots, let’s keep it as safe as we can out at The Buck so that the only danger we face is that of not making the playoffs.

Also appearing at CenterlineSoccer.com here.