Sport's Oddest Traditions Explained

I am really not much of a lists kind of guy. I mean reading a list is sometimes as exciting as reading the phone book.

David Wallechinsky, his father, Irving Wallace, and sister, Amy Wallace published the first “Book of Lists” back in 1977 and the rest is list history.

Many Bleacher Report writers have adopted this list format. We have "Top 10" lists, "Bottom 10" lists, "The Best Players To Not Do This," "The Worst Players To Do That," "My Favorite ___" lists...you get the idea.

Even the sample for the slide title is "The 10 Best Basketball Shoes of All Time." Quite frankly, after “Chuck Taylor” and “Air Jordan,” I would be done.

I know many readers enjoy these articles, and I’m not saying I don’t on occasion. It is just that sometimes they leave me wanting more. I’m just inquisitive by nature and as Albert Popwell said to “Dirty Harry” Callahan in 1971, “I gots to know.”

What really got me started thinking about this was (ironically enough) a list I read recently on strange sports conventions.

Throwing octopi onto the ice at a hockey game is strange indeed, but what started this peculiar tradition?

Do you ever wonder why fans throw octopi onto the ice at Detroit Red Wings games?

The Red Wings won their first title in 1952. Back then, a team needed eight wins to become the Stanley Cup champions.

Two brothers, Pete and Jerry Cusimano, who just happen to own a fish shop, were the first to let octopi fly. The eight tentacles of the beast represented each victory the team would need to bring home Lord Stanley’s cup, and in 1952 the Red Wings accounted for each tentacle.

Some interesting facts:

The largest octopus ever tossed weighed fifty pounds and was showcased on the hood of the Zamboni.

Your octopus most be boiled to prevent it from sticking to the ice.

Never throw your octopus while the game is being played.

Times to throw are immediately following the Star Spangled Banner, when Detroit scores, or at the end of the game.

Some people have been known to throw squid, but I must point out here that a squid has ten tentacles. Although I do love deep fried calamari from time to time.

It takes sixteen play-off wins to win the Stanley Cup today. I guess the fans throw twice as many octopi?

Aren’t you glad the Cusimano brothers didn’t own pet tarantulas?

Do you ever wonder why the winner of the Indianapolis 500 drinks milk in the victory circle?

Way back in 1936, after winning the prestigious race, Louis Meyer had his picture taken while drinking from a bottle of buttermilk. Meyer was actually following “good ol” mom’s advice, who had told him it would refresh him.

Well it didn’t take long for the Milk Foundation to seize the opportunity. When they saw the picture they made sure from that point on that the winner of the Indy 500 received a bottle of milk to drink.

A tradition was born.

The National Dairy Council calls this tradition, "a winning example for people everywhere who are looking to maintain a healthy, active lifestyle."

Not everyone agrees.

PETA claims that milk is “a beverage born of cruelty to baby calves”.

Perhaps next year’s winner will be seen drinking “Silk” or “Rice Dream”.

I really think the makers of dairy milk substitutes should change the name to something more masculine to attract more male consumers.

How about, “Milk Man”?

Do you ever wonder why the New York Yankees grounds crew performs the “Y.M.C.A.”?

In February 1996, former son-in-law of George Steinbrenner, and former Managing General Partner, Joseph Molloy started it all.

During spring training of that year, Molloy was approached by a couple members of the grounds crew.

It seems as if they had a thirst for the big stage and suggested livening things up while they tended to the grounds in the fifth inning. Molloy was all for it, and to the delight of the crowd, the grounds crew performed the arm motions of the “Y.M.C.A.” song while dragging the field.

Molloy took the idea back to New York.

April 9, 1996, in a snowstorm no less, the Yankees were playing the Kansas City Royals. During the fifth inning the grounds crew started their trek across the field. Then the speakers filled the air with the disco beat of the Village People’s “Y.M.C.A.” and the boys busted a move.

Molloy: “I remember looking at [Yankees] Wade Boggs and Derek Jeter and seeing them swaying to the music. When those grounds crew guys dropped their rakes and performed, you had to watch. From the owner's box, I would do the Y-M-C-A motions with the crowd. I should have trademarked it.”

Perhaps Molloy should have trademarked it. The tradition is still alive at the New Yankee Stadium and has lasted longer than Malloy’s marriage to Steinbrenner’s daughter, Jessica.

Do you ever wonder why those big weenies run around the bases at Milwaukee Brewer’s games?

Like the victory milk at the Indy 500, the sausage race is actually a publicity ploy for Klement's Sausages. The racing started in the early 90’s as cartoon sausages racing to the delight of the crowd on the large center field scoreboard.

The original suited sausages were Bratwurst (#1), Polish Sausage (#2) and the Italian Sausage (#3). They evidently were added as a promotion to the promotion, as it were. They also entertained the children in the crowd.

One Sunday afternoon, as the Racing Sausages emerged from the left field corner and took off toward home plate, the crowd went nuts--and the race around the bases was on!

There are now five racing sausages. Hot Dog (#4) was introduced in the middle 90’s.

In 2007, the Chorizo (#5) was added to the Klement's Racing Sausages team, after a run of one game the previous year. Chorizo was added to honor the Latin contributions to the game of baseball.

It is quite an honor to be a "guest" Klement’s Racing Sausage. Some to hold this distinction are, Hideo Nomo, Pat Meares, and Geoff Jenkins.

And I bet you wished you were an Oscar Meyer Wiener! (Apologies to Heartbeat of the Bronx, aka Stephen Meyer)

“Who Let the Dogs Out?” The Baha Men-2000 (sorry, an “All-No Team")

How do you get “Dawgs” from a team that used to have a “Brownie” for a mascot? I know this to be true, because I had the entire Wheaties football pennant collection as a child, and Cleveland’s had a picture of a little brown elf on theirs.

Yes, I know the team resides in Baltimore now. Hey, maybe they should have been the Baltimore Brownies!

A former cornerback for the Browns, Hanford Dixon, is credited with coining the nickname “Dawgs”.

During training camp of 1985, Dixon and his counterpart, Frank Minnifield, used a “Dogs vs. Cat” philosophy to describe the relationship between the quarterback (the cat) and the defense (the dogs). Each time the defense would sack the quarterback, the linemen and linebackers would start barking.

The new tradition was picked up by fans at training camp and they would bark along with the team.

For the first pre-season game a “Dawg Pound” banner was placed in front of the bleachers by Dixon and Minnifield at the old Cleveland Stadium, and the “Dawg Pound” sprang to life.

Wearing dog costumes, throwing “Milk-Bones” onto the field, and of course, yelling and barking became all the rage.

Are you happy? I got through that without one Michael Vick reference! Oops, until now--hey, I couldn't help it!

Do you ever wonder how "The Wave" got started?

Me neither.

Just Kidding! But you can skip this one if you want to.

Here are just a few of the many theories on how "The Wave" started.

Starting in 1976, a gentleman by the name of Bill Scott (AKA "Bill the Beerman") would sell beer in Seattle's now defunct Kingdome. He would also lead the crowd in cheers.

Scott would start with one side of the stadium and then move to the other and determine who was the loudest. In the process, many in the pacific northwest claim he originated the wave.

"Krazy George" Henderson has been a sports icon at Oakland A's games for years. He introduced the wave to the Oakland Coliseum on October 15, 1981. However, that is not where he claims to have "discovered" it. Henderson is a professional cheerleader and in 1980 he was leading cheers in Canada at an Edmonton Oilers hockey game.

One side of the audience was instructed to rise and cheer immediately after the opposite side did the same. A delayed response by one side of the audience resulted in the crowd rising section by section, rather than all at once. Krazy George insists that Wayne Gretsky can bear witness to these events.

Not so fast, though! The University of Washington, Rob Weller, and band member Dave Hunter also claim responsibility for the inception of "The Wave". On Halloween of 1981, Weller was serving as a guest yell king.

He originally tried the wave from top to bottom of the stands, and even tried bottom to top. Someone in the crowd was purported to have yelled, "Sideways" and the wave took off.

Others to either take or receive credit for popularizing the wave include, Frank Zappa, Mexican Football, The U of W band director, Bill Bissell, and the University of Michigan.

This is a sports tradition to avoid, however. . .

It appears that the ability to increase your “juju” is still alive and well in Zimbabwe and many other African Nations.

Last fall, a soccer player in Zimbabwe drowned after being told to take part in a "spirit cleansing" ritual in the Zambezi River.

Apparently, team officials for the Midlands Portland Cement made the player and his teammates take a plunge in the river before a match against the Victoria Falls club.

A state newspaper reported the following:

"The technical team told every player to get into the river so that they could be cleansed of bad spirits," it said. The paper quoted local police commander Peter Rodzi as saying that after the swim, the other players had noticed that one of the team was missing. "The area where the team was swimming is prohibited as the current is strong. The river is also infested with crocodiles and hippos," said Rodzi.

And I thought the Black Hole was dangerous.