Swann had a superstition that if he averaged 80 for his wickets during a test series he'd scamper off with his tail between his legs.

Any pro has a good serve compared to an average Joe.

Exactly Doos,

It's not a mine is bigger than your thing. To execute your best serve at that level (hell, at any level) requires a degree of methodical concentration...and if some cases a tug at the briefs, a lucky number of ball bounces or whatever it takes.

Quez,

That is correct. Only 1 post has been banned in the last couple of days. Posts do no not get deleted from the database - only not shown.

regards
Robert

Colonel Klink has just hopped onto quez's shoulder again and is whispering in his ear.

It's everybody else. It's a conspiracy. It's not you. You've done nothing. You should have another whinge.

Grow up quezza.

This will be another story or mistruth in a long line of stories and mistruths.


I know what's pathetic. It isn't the forum.

It's your ipad. It's gone from messing up simple cut and paste jobs to blocking your forum activity. I'd get it looked at. It might have it in for you as well.

Doosra, you must not follow tennis much. Nadal isnt known for his serve.

He is known for his strong ground strokes, speed and endurance.

There are many other players with a better serve than him.

The great philosopher Stevie Wonder once said "If you believe in things you don't understand then you suffer; Superstition ain't the way." [insert funky bass line here]

It's true enough, but a lot of what we call superstition is really a kind of self imposed mind training, a preparation ritual that sports people do to get their mind's set for a concentrated task. It doesn't need to make any sort of sense to anyone else.

It might be the order in which you put on your socks, the gold crucifix around your neck, a chanted mantra, the need to listen to the Eye of the Tiger on your iPod - you don't need to actually profess a belief that these rituals make a difference, just so long as they get your head where you think it needs to be to perform the task.

Consider Rafa Nadal's undies. I doubt there was ever any conscious connection between Rafa's booming services and his want to pick at his backside before unleashing them. I doubt that Rafa was even aware that he was doing it but I have no doubt that if he wasn't allowed or able to relieve his wedgie he would not have served so well.

But I could be wrong. Perhaps they were his lucky undies, despite the creep. Thankfully, he appears to have retired them but the regularity with which Rafa reached for his coit before service suggests it was as essential to its execution as any other part of his pre-service ritual.

To make sure I wasn't missing out on anything I tried the Nadal technique myself but without any discernible improvement of my serve. It's not my thing. It's Rafa's thing.

Other rituals are not so much a question of superstition or even preparation as much as they are team building exercises, rituals of shared meaning that confirm you are part of the group.

The rousing round of Yankee Doodle Dandy (with the words changed to 'We're a happy team at Hawthorn') or the fully obscene version of Under the Southern Cross are good examples, as is kissing the badge on your helmet. These are rituals of collective reinforcement and they need to be paid due respect or Simon Katich will shake you by the throat until you comply. And fair enough too.

It all serves to confirm that sport is as much a mental activity as it is a physical activity and the key to athletic execution is the balance and co-ordination of the physical with the mental aspect to make it happen.

As the other great philosopher John Lennon once said

"Keep playing those mind games forever, faith in the future out of the now"

But don't forget to tug your undies first.

LOL ... Good one Saintly.

I back more winners when i wear a blue shirt.

I've got it Tonto.

About life as well.

It's a good read but probably out of quez's area of understanding.

Get a copy and have a read. I encourage anyone.