by Steve Wulf
Masked Men (clockwise from left): Jacques Plante of the Montreal Canadiens, 1959; Chico Resch of the New York Islanders, 1970; and Evgeni Nabokov of the San Jose Sharks, 2008.
LUCKY CHARMS
ATHLETES ARE A SUPERSTITIOUS LOT
Athletes are a superstitious lot, trying to replicate success by not changing (or changing) underwear, diets, habits, schedules, routines. The fine outfielder Larry Walker, for instance, was obsessed with the number 3. His uniform was always 33, he took swings in multiples of three, he set his alarm clock for three minutes past the hour—we’ll let him take it from there: “I got married in ’93, on November 3 at 3:33 P.M. We were married for three years, and she got $3 million.”
Below are lists of athletes and superstitions. (Though some of the players are still active, all of the superstitions are described in the past tense because, hey, the habit might have been broken.) See if you can match them up:
Bjorn Borg celebrates after winning the Wimbledon Lawn Tennis Championship, 1980.
1. Peyton Manning A. washed his car before every game
2. Curt Schilling B. spit out his gum and hit it before every AB
3. Bruce Gardiner C. never shaved during Wimbledon
4. Danny Ferry D. wore the same cup he’d worn in high school
5. Goran Ivanisevec E. stomped on every paper cup in the dugout
6. John Henderson F. sprayed his knees with WD-40
7. Kevin Millar G. ate a toasted PB&J 30 minutes before a game
8. Patrick Roy H. had trunks facing inward on all 25 elephant figures in his office
9. Mike Bibby I. drank a 2-liter bottle of Mountain Dew during a game
10. Lee Trevino J. had the trainer slap him in the face before every game
11. Nate Wayne K. wore a pair of black ladies’ panties under his uniform
12. Billy Williams L. took his laces out before every game
13. Ray Bourque M. ate licorice, then brushed his teeth after every inning
14. Caron Butler N. used a Helen Hicks pitching wedge
15. Björn Borg O. sprinkled deer urine on his bats
16. Lawrence Tynes P. sprinkled his own urine on his hands before a game
17. Moises Alou Q. read the program cover-to-cover before every game
18. Bill Parcells R. underlined a book passage he liked before every game
19. Earl Weaver S. was always the second person up after a changeover
20. Gary Player T. used time-outs to clip his nails
21. Turk Wendell U. lit five floating candles in hotel toilets, bathtubs, and sinks
22. Brendan Donnelly V. dipped his stick blade in the toilet before every game
23. Rico Carty W. always left a ticket at the box office for his deceased father
24. Raul Mondesi X. talked constantly to the goalposts
25. Mark McGwire Y. changed balls after every birdie
26. Rob Murphy Z. continually wrapped and unwrapped string around his finger
Key: 1-Q, 2-W, 3-V, 4-R, 5-S, 6-J, 7-O, 8-X, 9-T, 10-N, 11-F, 12-B, 13-L, 14-I, 15-C, 16-A, 17-P, 18-H, 19-Z, 20-Y, 21-M, 22-G, 23-U, 24-E, 25-D, 26-K
TABLETOPS
HOW TO RULE AT TABLE TENNIS
When you walk into the Wang Chen Table Tennis Club on the Upper West Side of Manhattan, there’s no mistaking Wang’s superstar status. Pictures adorning the walls feature Wang, a member of the 2008 U.S. Olympic table tennis team, with fellow U.S. Olympians LeBron James and Chris Paul, as well as with former president George H. W. Bush.
Wang, the first American to reach the quarterfinals of an Olympic table tennis tournament, is not only a world-renowned player but also a teacher of the game, offering lessons by the hour. As such, the Chinese émigré is uniquely qualified to teach the ins and outs of the most important shot in table tennis: the serve.
“We teach right-handed players to begin from the far left side of the table,” says Wang, her knees slightly bent and the paddle resting softly between her thumb and index finger. She modifies her grip for the serve, placing her index finger a little lower on the back side of the paddle—“to give more wrist action.”
From there, “it starts with the toss.” Place the ball “right in the middle of the palm” in order to create a consistent toss of about 6 inches. As the ball descends, Wang sweeps through its left or right side, depending on whether she is hitting it with a slice spin to the opposite corner or a pull spin down the line.
The key, Wang says, is to vary your serves. “Otherwise, your opponent knows how to play you. When I play, I probably hit about 70 to 80 percent of my serves short because they’re harder for the opposing player to attack.”
In fact, according to Wang, there are over 30 new kinds of serves reportedly being used in tournaments around the world. The serve that all of Wang’s younger students ask to learn is the traditional Chinese serve, with a very high toss. The high toss generates power from the downward force of the ball, but it has been used less and less in the professional ranks because most tournaments take place in arenas with air conditioning, which affects the flight of the ball.
Another interesting serve, Wang says, is the one employed most often by Japanese women, who, because they are shorter than many other players, can almost bend down to the height of the table and serve over their heads with a topspin.
As in any other sport, the best way to perfect your serve is practice. Wang encourages her students to experiment with their own style to find what works best for them. “Practicing serves doesn’t take much energy,” she says. “It’s very easy and very important to winning.”
For the dedicated, Wang recommends her “special secret” training trick: six spots that are worth aiming for on a serve— three along the back edge of the table (either corner and right down the middle) and those same three about a third of the way to the back of the table.
You may never make the Olympics. But with Wang’s advice, the next time somebody challenges you to a friendly game of Ping-Pong, you’ll be serving higher, faster, and stronger.
Wang Chen of the U.S. bears down in a preliminary-round women’s singles table tennis match at the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games.
BREAKING ANKLES
CHRIS PAUL ON HOW TO FAKE OUT AN OPPONENT
There may be no more thrilling play in basketball than the killer crossover. More so even than the posterizing dunk, the ankle breaker is a statement of absolute victory over a defender, a show of dominance for the victor and humiliation for the loser. Perhaps there is no one better to ask how to hone one’s own ankle-breaking skill than 2008 Olympic gold medalist and NBA MVP runner-up Chris Paul of the New Orleans Hornets.
“The key is keeping the defender off-balance,” says Paul. “For instance, if I’m coming up the court full speed, I may dribble real fast between my legs.”
This, Paul says, gets the defender thinking about which way he wants to go.
“Then I’ll go right hand to left hand to set him up.”
This keeps the defender guessing.
“Then I’ll dribble in and out with the left hand to get him leaning, and once I get his feet moving, I know I have him.”
At that point, he crosses over from left to right, leaving the poor defender in his wake and the lane open for a layup, floater, or easy assist.
CP3, as he is affectionately called by fans, has been using his crossover as a weapon for a long time. In fact, he still remembers the moment he first knew just how dangerous his dribble was.
“My first time making someone fall down was at Walkertown [North Carolina] Middle School, when I was in eighth grade,” he says. “The kid’s name was Jason Jowers, and my dad was there in the stands with his video camera.”
Paul says that nothing gets NBA players more excited than watching a great crossover by the likes of Jason Williams, Stephon Marbury, or—Paul’s favorite— Allen Iverson.
Pete Maravich could dribble a basketball outside the passenger window of a car traveling 20 mph.
Growing up, P
aul emulated the crossovers of guys like Tim Hardaway. But, he says, there is no contest when it comes to naming the single best ankle breaker of all time. In fact, Paul has a special connection to him because he was a fellow Wake Forest Demon Deacon.
“No question,” he says. “Randolph Childress in the 1995 ACC Tournament championship game is the best ever. Jeff McInnis of North Carolina was guarding him on the left wing. Childress had his back to him; then he turned around to go to the hoop, and he crossed over real quick, right to left, and McInnis just fell down on his back. So Childress just looks down at him, motions with his hand to tell him to get up, then hits a three—nothing but net.”
As he thinks about the move, a huge smile comes across Paul’s face. “Oh, man, that’s all we saw when I was at Wake.”
Chris Paul makes a move to the basket during a game against Greece at the 2008 Beijing Summer Olympics.
TAPING ANKLES
KEVIN CARROLL ON HOW TO WRAP AN ANKLE
Your ankle is a little balky, but you’ve got a big tennis match. Your child twisted an ankle, but she’s got a big Pelé Cup match coming up. If you think you can gird the warrior with just any old Ace bandage, think again. And take the advice of Kevin Carroll.
As a professional trainer, Kevin Carroll has taped the ankles of Allen Iverson, Lisa Leslie, and Tiger Woods. Also the author of the inspirational Rules of the Red Rubber Ball, Carroll recommends consulting a licensed trainer or reading Arnheim’s Principles of Athletic Training by William Prentice and Daniel Arnheim, before proceeding. Then follow these instructions for taping your own ankle:
Start by lying down with your foot facing up, in the same position it would be in if you were standing on it.
Begin either just above the ankle bone or at the middle of the foot, using prewrap, which you can purchase at any pharmacy. Wrap it around the foot and ankle to cover the area.
Take two to three strips of tape and stick them to the top of the ankle. Do the same with two to three strips at the bottom of the foot. These strips are called anchors.
Grab the tape and pull a piece of it lengthwise, starting from the right side of the ankle at the anchor, around the bottom of the foot and back up to the left side. Repeat this two or three times. These pieces of tape are known as stirrups.
Beginning at the top of the ankle, at the anchor, use seven or eight strips of tape, and place them, overlapping, toward the bottom of the ankle.
Continue with bigger strips, and bring the tape around the back of the heel and adhere it to the top of your foot. Do that two or three times.
Take the roll of tape and, starting at the instep, or inside of the foot, bring the tape along the ankle at a slight angle and wrap it around the underside of the foot and then around the outside of the heel and back around to the front. Repeat that twice, following the path you just made.
Now you’re ready for battle. And now you know a little about what a professional athlete has to go through before a competition.
Erin Buescher of the Sacramento Monarchs gets taped up before Game 4 of the 2005 WNBA finals against the Connecticut Sun.
MIGHTIEST GAME (BASEBALL)
THE STORY OF THE MERKLE BONER
The national pastime has had many dramatic games over its long history, but perhaps its most memorable was also one of its most controversial: the 1908 Cubs-Giants game, in which a baserunning blunder by a young Giants player negated an apparent victory and led to the Cubs’ winning the 1908 National League pennant and their last World Series. The details could sustain a two-hour film. But here’s the Reader’s Digest version:
The Cubs (90–53) and the Giants (87–50) were in a virtual first-place tie with about two weeks left in a tight pennant race when they met at the Polo Grounds in New York on September 23. In the bottom of the 9th inning, with the score at 1–1 and Giants runners on first and third with two outs, Al Bridwell hit an apparent game-winning single to center field. But the runner on first—young Fred Merkle, playing only because of an injury to a teammate—ran off the base path toward the clubhouse, following the custom of the time, as soon as the ball hit by Bridwell reached the outfield, without first touching second base!
Ten years after the game, Merkle was playing with the Cubs.
The Cubs’ brainy second baseman, Johnny Evers, who had unsuccessfully protested a similar play earlier in the month at Pittsburgh, called for the ball. A wrestling match ensued as the Giants’ third-base coach, Iron Man McGinnity, realized what was happening and struggled with Evers for the ball. Some say the ball was thrown over the stadium roof, but Evers eventually produced a ball, stood on second base, and appealed to umpire Hank O’Day for an out call. By chance, O’Day had been the umpire for the earlier game at Pittsburgh, and although he had ruled against Evers that day, he’d later told Evers that upon reflection he’d realized that the second baseman was correct and that a force-out on a runner from first base should negate the apparent winning run. So O’Day called Merkle out.
Now, with thousands of fans on the field and further play impossible, each team claimed victory: The Giants said they had won 2–1, while the Cubs claimed a forfeit win because the marauding fans would not allow the game to resume. The umpires called the game a tie, and both teams protested to the league president. Giants manager John McGraw was especially livid, believing that a bona fide victory had been stolen. Legend has it that he even brought Merkle and Christy Mathewson back to a darkened Polo Grounds just before midnight and had Mathewson witness Merkle stepping onto second base so that Mathewson—the most universally respected player in baseball at the time—could assert that he saw Merkle touch the base that day.
But National League president Harry Pulliam upheld the ruling of a tie, with the game to be replayed at the end of the season only if it became necessary to determine the pennant winner. Of course, it came to exactly that. Each team stood at 98-55 when the Cubs returned to New York for the replay on October 8. Mordecai “Three-Finger” Brown, pitching in relief for the Cubs, defeated Mathewson 4-2, and the Cubs won the pennant.
If this were a movie, these are the postscripts that would appear:
The Cubs downed the Tigers in the 1908 World Series but haven’t won another series since.
Merkle played in 16 seasons in the majors, batting .273 and participating in five World Series, but never lived down the nickname Bonehead.
Pulliam, who lived and worked in New York, became the subject of a constant stream of abuse from the Giants and their fans. In July of 1909, he killed himself.
MISSPELL CHECK
IT PAYS TO MAKE A MISTAKE—ON BASEBALL CARDS
Fred Merkle may never have cashed in, but there’s real money in mistakes. Take the baseball-card business, for instance. The most expensive card in the world is the 1909 T-206 Honus Wagner, one of which recently sold for $2.8 million. But the Sherry Magie card from that same American Tobacco Company set is also worth a windfall. That’s because the Phillies outfielder’s name was actually spelled Magee, and the manufacturers corrected the mistake during production. According to Grant Sandground, a senior analyst for Graded Card Investor, “A correct version is worth about $40. But a card spelled Magie, even in poor condition, is worth about $10,000. It’s darn rare.”
Certain baseball cards in almost-pristine condition are worth surprisingly more than others bearing the image of more famous players. Says Sandground, “Some of the values for seemingly commonplace cards that have ‘low population data’ can soar in value past the superstars in the same set.” A case in point is the 1962 Topps Frank Robinson. A 10-point scale is used to measure the condition of a card, and collectors try to complete sets with a grade of 8 or higher. When the Robinson cards were printed, many had poorly centered borders. So an 8–10 Robinson with centered borders is worth about $1,800, $300 more than a Mickey Mantle card in the same condition.
A baseball fan digs through the offerings at the Baseball Card and Autograph Show in New York City.
Here are three other cards th
at benefited from errors:
1987 Donruss Barry Bonds from Opening-Day Boxed Set. In a set produced for toy stores in the United States, Donruss printed a card with Barry Bonds’s name but a picture of one of his teammates, Pirates second baseman Johnny Ray. Value: $250.
1990 Topps Frank Thomas. On certain versions of this card, the Big Hurt’s name is missing due to the use of the wrong ink. Value: $500–$600.
2006 Topps Alex Gordon. The Royals third baseman wasn’t supposed to appear in the set because he was still in the minor leagues. The MLB Players Association asked Topps to stop the print run after collectors found the card. Value: $400.
CARD GAMES
HOW TO PLAY WITH MAJOR LEAGUERS
Back before collecting became a business, baseball cards were actually worth a lot more. Instead of hermetically sealing them as futures, children of the fifties and sixties used them to while away recesses, soup up bikes, and throw down gauntlets. Instead of keeping a 1962 Frank Robinson under lock and key, we were much more likely to put him up against the wall of P.S. 16 and try to knock him down.
The game was called knocksies. Here are the basic rules, along with some of the other ways we made pieces of cardboard come to life:
Knocksies. Pretty simple. We leaned three to five well-worn cards against a wall and flipped other cards to try to knock them down. Winner took all. We wanted to put a little curve in the flight because a dead-on hit often bounced off.
Topsies. We kept throwing cards until one landed on another. Again, winner took all. The bigger the venue, the better, because it increased the size of the pot. Many an argument erupted over whether one card was on top of another or just touching.
Farsies. The most macho of games—who could flip a card the farthest. We had to be willing to bet a certain number of cards on the outcome—say, 10. It’s amazing how some skills never leave you. I just threw a 1983 Buck Martinez 15 feet.