Before every 1998 World Cup match, French football defend... | funfact.wiki | funfact.wiki
Before every 1998 World Cup match, French football defender Laurent Blanckissed 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.
Soccer player Carlos Kaiser of Brazil signed with multiple teams for over a decade from 1979 without playing a single match. He faked injuries, had journalists write false stories, and once started a fight with fans to get ejected — all to hide that he couldn't play.
InventorNikola 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.
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'.