Do you believe that where you sit matters? How about what you wear? Do you sit in the same pew in church? What section do you prefer in the movie theater? How about where you sit at the table for dinner? And very important, how about when you watch a Patriots game? Do you have a lucky shirt or pair of socks.
My husband and I are very close friends with a really fun couple who also happen to be superstitious. Lots of people are superstitious, especially athletes.
- Michael Jordan used to wear his University of North Carolina shorts under his uniform in every game. In order to cover his lucky shorts, he began wearing longer shorts, which inspired the trend in the NBA!
- Dallas Maverick guard, Jason Terry would eat chicken before games, wear five pairs of socks, and the night before every game, he would wear a pair of the opposing team’s shorts to bed.
- And then there was our own Wade Boggs, dubbed Chicken Man by Jim Rice. He always ate chicken before each game, always took batting practice at 5:17, ran his sprints at 7:17, and would draw the word “Chai” (Hebrew for “life”) in the dirt before coming up to bat. Yowsa! I only knew about the chicken!
When we invited our friends over to watch a Patriots game, they were very reluctant. The excuse was – “We need to sit in the same spots in our living room – Bobby always sits in his chair and I (Jen) always sit on the floor in front of the recliner. I wear the same sweatpants and Patriots shirt.” My husband and I really wanted to watch the game with them, so we put on the full “kitchen” press, and were able to lure them with our menu of homemade chili, pizza, Buffalo wings, and lots of other goodies.
I sometimes forget that you need to be careful what you wish for. I wasn’t at all worried about whether they would prefer thin crust or thick, or how spicy they like their wings and chili. As I was going through my shopping list, it hit me – what if we lose the game? They will never, ever watch a Patriots game with us again.
So Sunday was upon us and our friends arrived. Jen asked, “Is it okay if I sit here?” She sat on the floor, in front of our chair and ottoman which are approximately where she would be sitting at home. Her husband sat on one of the sofas, and watched the game at the same angle and proximity that he would have been at home in his comfy chair. Jen and I wore our lucky Patriots shirts.
I couldn’t relax. It was one of those extremely painful games to watch. You know the type I am referring to. Denver got to Brady 22 times and we couldn’t seem to pull ahead. I am pretty sure this is the last time they’ll watch a game with us, but at this point, I am okay with it.
And a final word about superstitious professional athletes – no matter what they do for luck, you can bet that they have trained, studied, and are prepared for each game. Doing your homework and coming to the table prepared is the single most important thing we can do as project managers when meeting with executives.
Do you know anyone who is superstitious? I will say that in the business setting, it can matter where you sit at the conference room table and what you wear, but not for the same reason. You typically let your executive sponsor sit at the head of the conference table, right? I surely hope so. I suppose no one but you will know if you are wearing your lucky Wonder Woman undershirt –no harm done.
There was still ragged mylar sheathing up in the buttonmaker’s undercarriage. At this point in the story, I should mention the many stark warnings issued by the manufacturer about “tampering with the buttonmaker”. Don’t do it, man. Just don’t. 
