Goodbye finals, hello Pasadena

Superstitious fans prepare for game

Some fans perform salt rituals.

Others repeatedly wear the same socks, jerseys and boxers shorts.

For die-hard fans of the maize and blue, these superstitions are a force that helped carry the football team all the way to the Rose Bowl.

LSA first-year student Dylan Brock said his green-and-black plaid boxer shorts and his blue down comforter propelled the team to Pasadena.

MARGARET MYERS/Daily LSA first-year student Dylan Brock stands in his ceremonial J. Crew boxer shorts. Brock wears the same shorts during every game, whether or not he has a ticket to sit in the stadium.

His superstition evolved over this year's winning season.

"I always sleep in until the game on game-day Saturday mornings," Brock said. "I would never get changed until after the game was over. So I would wear my boxers and then wrap myself in my dark blue comforter. My friend would come over to watch the games, and we kept winning."

The whole thing started as a joke, Brock said. But after securing his first game ticket of the year, Brock showed up at Michigan Stadium for the Ohio State game clad in his trusty boxers and armed with his familiar comforter.

After the Wolverines disposed of the Buckeyes, Brock ditched the comforter for a joyful jaunt around the field in just his boxer shorts.

"When we blew out Penn State, I kept saying it was because of my comforter," Brock said. "Then my friends convinced me that it was true, and I guess I convinced myself."

The true test was the Wisconsin game, Brock said.

"I ordered pizza and when the pizza guy came I had to get dressed to go get my pizza," Brock said. "When I got dressed and went downstairs, Wisconsin scored a touchdown. That's when I realized that there was a direct correlation between the two. I came back and got undressed. We won the game, but we didn't blow them out."

LSA junior David Lanxner said his elaborate salt ritual has brought the maize and blue to the Rose Bowl.

"I don't know how it got started," Lanxner said. "I started doing it this year before every football game. Before the games I would pour salt around the stadium and our house."

The ritual traditionally is performed around someone's feet, room or bed to bring them good luck, Lanxner said.

"My family is really superstitious," Lanxner said. "I watched this Middle Eastern movie when I was little, where this little boy kept having nightmares. The little boy's grandmother poured salt around the boy's bed and put a knife in the mattress to get rid of bad spirits. I guess I kind of picked up on that."

University alumnus Mark Grueber said he and his former first-year roommate Dave Gamm are the proud owners of a giant letter "D" and a cardboard picket fence that they use to show support for the team's defensive abilities.

"We have had the D-fence for two years," Grueber said. "The first time we used it was the Ohio-Michigan game two years ago. They won that game, 31-23."

Grueber said that because he and Gamm were unaware of the power of the D-fence, they didn't use it at all last year.

"We brought it to every game this year," Grueber said.

Since Grueber and Gamm live apart from one another, they only use the special weapon when they watch the game together.

"It's the two of us that make the force. I am the fence and Dave is the D," Gruebber said. "Combined knowledge is more powerful. We're sick."

Other requirements for Grueber and Gamm are wearing the same clothes to every game.

"We must also enter the same gate and leave at the same time - that is essential," Grueber said.

For Brock, his revealing ensemble proved a little hazardous after the Ohio State game.

"I wore just my special boxers and my comforter into the stadium," Brock said. "I was extremely jubilant that we won. I ran onto the field in just my boxers, running around and hugging all my friends. When I tried to leave through the endzone, I got kind of thrown around by the cops. It got kinda rough, but it was definitely an interesting experience."

For his part, Lanxner even poured a circle of salt around Michigan Stadium the day of the Ohio State game.

"I think I might even use this for finals," Lanxner said.

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