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It's Friday the 13th Football in the UIF

April 12, 2007 - United Indoor Football Association (UIF) News Release


Omaha, NE - The Colorado Ice travel to Sioux City for a Friday the Thirteenth United Indoor Football game against the Bandits. While many athletes will not use the word "superstitious," they certainly aren't afraid of having rituals in hopes of providing good luck instead of paraskavedekatriaphobia, fear of Friday the Thirteenth.

Freddy Krueger isn't on either team's roster, but there is a Jason-and he does have a ritual. Colorado's Jason McCleary goes through the same routine prior to every game and practice. He has to have his left foot taped, then his right. He puts on his left sock, then his right. Left shoe, right shoe.

McCleary wears jersey number 22. There are a few in the league that don the number 13, including RiverCity Rage defensive back Roderick Jefferson, Omaha Beef defensive back Jared Kness and Lexington Horsemen quarterback Kewan Dewberry. Dewberry probably isn't worried about having that number on his back. He was named UIF Offensive Player of the Week for last weekend's play.

Many Bloomington Extreme players James Fuller and Reggie Gray pray before every game while some of their teammates make sure they eat the same meal each game day. Dorian Pitts has to have pasta, Ken Duffy dines on steak and potatoes and Steve LaFalce will only drink Gatorade. Jason Hutton, Dwayne Smith and Calvin Jones concern themselves with staying loose. Smith and Jones listen to music while Hutton likes to crack as many jokes as possible. Extreme kicker, Peter Christofilakos, says his biggest weakness is superstitions. He wears the same socks every game and prays and crosses himself before each kickoff.

Superstitions in sports are common. According to factmonster.com, double numbers, such as 77, 88, etc, on a football player's uniform brings good luck. The website also claims it's bad luck for a professional football player to take a new number when he's traded to another team.

Many believe NFL players that grace the covers of Sports Illustrated, the Madden NFL video game and appear in Campbell's Soup advertisements are cursed. The popular urban legend debunking website snopes.com, doesn't rate these as "false." Instead, they regard them as "unclassifiable veracity."

This year sports another Friday the Thirteenth-in July-but barring any rescheduling, all games that weekend are set for Saturday.

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United Indoor Football Association Stories from April 12, 2007


The opinions expressed in this release are those of the organization issuing it, and do not necessarily reflect the thoughts or opinions of OurSports Central or its staff.


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