Superstition

Inventor Nikola Tesla had a superstition about the number 3: he had to walk around a building three times before entering, swim 33 laps, and stay in hotel rooms whose number was a multiple of three — confessing he felt compelled to start over if he failed.

Before every 1998 World Cup match, French football defender Laurent Blanc kissed goalkeeper Fabien Barthez's bald head as a ritual. Blanc was sent off in the semifinal and missed the final, but kept the ritual anyway — and France won the title.

Baseball player Wade Boggs always ate chicken before games, earning the nickname 'Chicken Man', and kept roughly 80 rituals, from leaving home at the exact same minute to taking the same route every day. His Hall of Fame plaque even reads 'Legendary for his superstitions'.

Basketball player Michael Jordan wore North Carolina shorts under his Chicago Bulls uniform as a ritual, hoping the luck from his 1982 NCAA title shot as a freshman would carry into the NBA.