RUNNING HEADER: SPORT TRADITIONS AND CUSTOMS

SPORTS TRADITIONS AND

CUSTOMS
Sports in American Society

0847514

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In the past two centuries sports have become more and more dominant in the society we
live in. All sports have changed their rules time and time again with new positions, new
equipment, and new laws and regulations surrounding the sports and the players playing them.
Sports around the world are constantly evolving but some things that have stayed the same for
centuries are the traditions and customs that go along with each sport. One may never have even
noticed because they are so rooted into the sport that one might ask, What did they do before
they started that tradition?
Traditions and customs of sports have been started and created through some of the most
random events. The first sport tradition is one of the most common traditions, it is so common
that most people dont even seem to notice it anymore, the seventh inning stretch in baseball.
The seventh inning stretch has been going on at every baseball game for over the past fifty years.
With tradition comes many different theories on exactly how the seventh inning stretch came
about. The most accepted theory is that while at a baseball game our very large, six foot two,
three hundred pound, twenty-seventh President, William Howard Taft was tired of sitting down
so he stood up (2015, Aubrecht, M.). Back then the President was given so much respect that
when he stood up everybody else also stood up and the players stopped playing. After a short
walk and stretch President Taft sat back down and the game started back up.
People seemed to love the idea of a little break within a game that before that, did not
have any breaks besides when the teams exchanged sides each inning. Another theory is after
the popular song, Take Me Out to the Ball Game, came out, people would sing it right before
the seventh inning. People would stand up and dance around while they sang it to get out of the
uncomfortable and small benches at the time. Either of the two stories that one believes, the

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seventh inning stretch has become a way for player to get a short break from their exhausting
game, for the audience to have time to get food and drink, and for the sport stadium to have a
little show to entertain kids and promote products and sponsors. One tradition that came from the
seventh inning stretch happens during the Washington Nationals baseball teams home games in
which our founding fathers are portrayed in big headed mascots and have a foot race around the
bases. Even though this tradition just started in 2006, it has become very popular and a large
focal point for spectators young and old.
Football has been an American favorite for decades, maybe because of the violence, the
loyalty for peoples home teams, or maybe because of the anticipation all week long to watch the
big games on Saturday for ones favorite college and Sunday for ones favorite professional
team. For whatever reason why one loves football, it has become an American icon. One of the
most common events to see at every single football game is after a couple of plays for a nice
long drive or gain you will see the offensive and sometimes the defensive team all get into
something called the huddle. The football huddle has been around for longer than most other
traditions and customs, but where did it come from?
At Gallaudet College, a Deaf institution, in the 1890s, now a university, the starting
quarterback named Paul Hubbard thought of a new way to sign to his teammates without other
teams watching and try to decipher what they were saying. He packed his offensive teammates
into a small group and was able to sign without the other team able to see, they called this the
football huddle. Soon other colligate football teams started to copy them. More and more
colligate teams saw this as a better and more private way to be able to talk about plays to each
other before the snap. Soon by the 1920s many bigger name colleges like Oregon State,

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University of Illinois, and Lafayette College started to use the football huddle. Not till around the
late 1940s to mid-1950, did the professional teams start to use the football huddle in fear that
they would get the same lashing back that the College teams were getting. Fans of the College
football games were complaining about the huddle saying that it slowed down the game too
much, but the football player found the huddle to help so much that they kept it.
The football huddle can now be seen in any football game used by all teams from the
elementary school recreation teams to the professionals. Children now use it for all sports and for
nothing less to just look and act like the professionals they see on TV and idolize. The most
ironic part of this tradition is that Gallaudet University no longer uses the football huddle but
instead just openly signs their plays in front of everybody. Head coach Chuck Goldstein says
(2014), ever since they switched conferences and now play mostly hearing Colleges, there is no
point to hide their signs. He welcomes any hearing team to try to interpret their signs in the
twenty five seconds before they snap the ball.
Staying on the topic of football, another more recent tradition is the popular act of the
Lambeau Leap. (2015, Sakakeeny, B.) The Lambeau leap was started in 1993 when Packers
safety Leroy Butler returned a fumble made by the Oakland Raiders and jumped over the wall
and into the arms of the awaiting fans. This tradition has been done by many different teams
since then and in many different stadiums besides just Lambeau Fields. Along with just different
teams doing this jump in different stadiums, now different sports are starting to also run and
jump into the crowds when then make a big play and score. This has made the seats that involve
this jump more valuable in price for the chance to touch one of your favorite players. This has in
a way, brought the players closer to the fans and is not only a way to celebrate a players big play

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but to also to make the fans feel like they have that job or obligation to catch their players when
they come leaping towards them.
A huge custom that has been around for as long as anybody can remember is the simple
hand shake. The hand shake has been a sign of respect for centuries and has always been a way
to show good sportsmanship on the field of play. The handshake is used in many sports and is
more important or noticed in some sports than others. In sports like tennis and wrestling, before
the match begins each player meets in the middle of the spot of competition and shakes hands in
front of the whole crowd. In football the captains of each team shake hands after the coin toss. At
the end of the game however you see both sides of the field all get up and head to the middle to
talk after the game, but the only hand shaking that the cameras and audience focus on first is the
hand shaking of the head coaches immediately after the game. The hand shake has always been
the sign of two athletes respecting one another for their competition, almost as if to say thank
you for the fight.
If you have ever watched the end of a sporting event you will see something very
interesting, athletes taking off their jerseys or uniforms and trading with opposing players. The
jersey swap has been around for a long time with no account of how it was started. The jersey
swap is a way for players to remember their competitors and to remember the game. The
tradition of the jersey swap began in 1931, when France beat England for the first time in soccer.
The French players were so ecstatic they asked the English players if they could have their
jerseys as keepsakes. The English obliged and gave their jerseys to the French as a sign of good
sportsmanship and respect. Now you can watch jersey swaps happen all the time on television in
almost any professional sports game. Swapping jerseys can sometimes have more meaning then

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just a memento of a good game. Brothers on opposing teams have switched jerseys as a way to
remember their first game against each other, former teammates of high school and college teams
trading jerseys when they see each other in the professional league. The jersey swap has been
called the ultimate sign of respect in sports, for the recipient of the jersey, the honor of having a
respected players jersey; and the giver is shown the respect of the craft they have worked so
hard to get.
One tradition that drives more crowds of people to some games rather than others
is rivalries. Rivalries exist in almost every sport and at almost every caliber at which they are
played. Whether its the high school team in the same county as another, Two colleges in the
same state like Duke and North Carolina or Virginia State and Virginia Tech. Or two professional
teams in the same division like the Baltimore Ravens and Pittsburg Steelers, which started when
the Cleveland Browns moved to Baltimore in 1996, or the New York Yankees and Boston Red
Sox, which started in 1919 after the trade of Babe Ruth. Rivalries are what truly drive a fan to go
crazy on game day, nobody knows what causes the hate that one feels for the opposing team, but
most fans have it within them. Rivalries can be almost instant, or develop over time, but either
way they never end well. Rivalries are a big part in sports, even though when all is said and done
both teams go their separate ways, the tension never truly leaves. Rivalries are fueled by fans; it
is the one major tool of how the fans are able to pump up their players. Some rivalries have been
around for decades, some have only been around for years, but all rivalries bring an intensity to
the game that nothing else can.
Probably the most important tradition in all of American sports is the singing of the
National Anthem before any professional sporting event. The National Anthem also known as the

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Star Spangled Banner was written by Francis Scott Key during the War of 1812. The Star
Spangled Banner was made the American National Anthem on March 3rd 1931. The history of
the National Anthem in sports is not well documented because of the fact that till the tragic event
of 9/11, not all sports teams, armature and recreational mostly, played it for before every game,
every time. (2011, September 11 Cyphers, L., & Trex, E.). The National Anthem has been
recorded playing during the mid-1800s when Babe Ruth thought of it as good luck before a
game. Then the song was played during big games such as playoff games and championships,
after 9/11 however almost every sports team from professional all the way down to ten and
younger teams play the song before every game, no matter what sport.
Traditions and customs in sports are constantly forming. New traditions can come from
almost anything like the seventh inning stretch in baseball to the swapping of jerseys that started
in one soccer game over half a century ago. Sports are forever becoming a larger and larger
staple of the world we live in today, as sports become more popular, more customs and traditions
will come. One of the greatest parts about these traditions and customs is the fact that they live
on in every new generation. As little kids people see professional sports players, and more often
than not, their heroes, practice these traditions and customs and as kids, we copy what they do,
so we can be just like them. Traditions and customs in sports carry on from generation to
generation, and will continue till everybody living right now has passed, forever gathering more
traditions and customs along the way.

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References/ Citations-The Best Traditions in All of Sports. (n.d.). Retrieved April 15, 2015, from
http://bleacherreport.com/articles/430099-the-best-traditions-in-all-of-sports/page/5
-Aubrecht, M. (n.d.). 7th Inning Stretch History by Michael Aubrecht. Retrieved April 15,
2015, from http://www.baseball-almanac.com/articles/7th_inning_stretch.shtml
-The true origin story of the football huddle. (2014, February 2). Retrieved April 15, 2015,
from http://theweek.com/articles/451763/true-origin-story-football-huddle
-Ahlers, S. (n.d.). Shaking Hands After the Game. Retrieved April 16, 2015, from
http://old.nfhs.org/CoachingTodayContent.aspx?id=7225
-Cyphers, L., & Trex, E. (2011, September 11). The Song Remains The Same. Retrieved
April 16, 2015, from http://espn.go.com/espn/story/_/id/6957582/the-history-nationalanthem-sports-espn-magazine
-Sakakeeny, B. (2010, August 4). The Best Traditions in All of Sports. Retrieved April 16,
2015, from http://bleacherreport.com/articles/430099-the-best-traditions-in-all-ofsports/page/8
-Best traditions in all of sports. (n.d.). Retrieved April 16, 2015, from
http://www.nydailynews.com/sports/best-traditions-sports-gallery-1.68161