How we help our favorite sports team win
Kidsday reporter Charlie Gruber, right, of Candlewood Middle School in Dix Hills, and her older sister, Bari, are fans of the University of Wisconsin-Madison Badgers. Credit: Craig Gruber
It’s 7 p.m., and my family’s favorite college basketball team, the Wisconsin Badgers, are getting ready for tipoff. We take our usual assigned seats in the den and watch the game.
The Badgers start off well. Mom decides to get up and get everyone snacks. Upon her return, she makes the dreaded mistake of switching her seat. It was as if the basketball demons were watching.
There was suddenly a change in the air in the room. The score began to change, and it was not in our favor. It was as if the world had turned upside down. The Badgers all of a sudden could not make a basket and started to lose the game. Was it the snacks Mom brought? We wondered if the last team substitution had something to do with it.
We considered every possibility but knew exactly what it was. We needed Mom to immediately return to her original seat, the seat she was sitting in when the Badgers were dominating their opponent. We yelled at Mom to get back into her seat.
As soon as we were all in the proper seats, the Badgers came alive and won the game decisively. Some people may say the game just had its typical ebbs and flows and it was just a coincidence. Not in my household. We are convinced our seating could make or break a game. Some say superstitions are not real. I disagree — the Badgers won the game.
Maria Lennon and Erica Schultheis’ writing club, Candlewood Middle School, Dix Hills
