I would consider myself to be a superstitious person. I don’t step on cracks in the sidewalk. I avoid doing anything involving an odd number. When I still played volleyball, I’d bounce the ball exactly four times before serving, and I would only wear a certain sock on my left foot and a certain sock on my right foot.
Well, I guess these are more examples of my obsessive-compulsive disorder than superstition, but no matter.
The fact of the matter is, superstitions are everywhere and affect us all in one way or another, and the election is no exception. In fact, as the big day draws near, I’ve been hearing more and more about superstitions and lore surrounding the election.
Evidence A: The Washington Redskins. That’s right, an NFL football team has proven to be a time-tested election predictor. If the Redskins lose their last home game prior to the election, the White House switches parties. If they win, the incumbent stays in power.
Scoff if you’d like, but this has proven true in the last 15 elections. That’s 60 years for those of you who aren’t math majors. The Redskins play Green Bay on Sunday. So regardless of where your loyalties on the football field may lie, you might want to reconsider them just for one night.
According to ESPN.com, Green Bay’s favored to win in a close battle. But the Green Bay gods may not be kind to Sen. Kerry, seeing as he incorrectly addressed Lambeau Field as Lambert Field. Ah, the irony.
If football isn’t your thing, I bring to question Nickelodeon’s “Kids Pick the President” election. In the last four elections, the candidate chosen by kids in Nickelodeon’s poll was the candidate who won the election.
I guess this could be explained in a more logical sense than attributing it to superstition, seeing as the kid vote more than likely reflects their parents’ stance in the election. The children even defend their presidential decision, arguing that they should be allowed to vote in the elections because, states Linda Ellerbee, “Nick News” writer and host, “Kids aren’t dumb, they’re just younger and shorter.”
Maybe Jack Handey had a point: “The face of a child can say it all — especially the mouth part of the face.”
(By the way, Kerry won the Nickelodeon election.)
Some superstitions cancel each other out. Usually, no president donning a middle name is re-elected (I know there are exceptions to this one, but I said ‘usually’). I don’t know if the “W” counts as a middle name, but it couldn’t help in the case of this superstition. However, it’s also a known superstition that no senator is elected to President. Sorry, John-John.
However, legends and curses are on rare occasion broken. Case in point: the Boston Red Sox. They suffered the notorious curse of never winning a World Series since trading Babe Ruth to the Yankees for cash. And we all know what happened to that curse.
Things change. Superstitions are proven wrong. We’re all adults, aren’t we? Can we conduct an election without throwing in hocus-pocus and ballyhoo?
We could, but where’s the fun in that?
Yes, the election is an event that should be regarded in all seriousness. And superstitions depend on the person and just how seriously one takes them. And superstitions are also pivotal on a candidate’s knowledge of America’s great football stadiums.
We all have our superstitions, whether they apply to our own daily lives (I had a roommate who firmly believed if she woke up on her stomach, it was going to be a bad day), or on a grander scale, such as the election, or a football contest involving our beloved Falcons. Superstition makes things interesting. It could be said that superstition is childish and petty, but then again, the same could be said of a lot of politicians.
So get your lucky rabbit’s foot, cheer for the football team corresponding to your presidential pick (and Democrats, pray that Kerry has atoned to the Packer gods for his grave sin), listen to the wisdom of your kid sister, and pray for the best.
Or you could get out and vote.
In the meantime, I’ll be here with my voodoo doll, plotting eventual world domination.
E-mail Chelsea with comments at [email protected].
