Athletes are athletes because of their superior abilities in a given sport.  But regardless, athletes attribute a good deal of their success to luck, the alignment of the stars, or a combination thereof.  Check out some athletes who said "I know I'm good at sports, but I need some divine interference to be elite." 

 

Turk Wendell Kills Things

Check out the remains from my victims.  Only a few are human.

Turk Wendell was loved by fans of every team for whom he played.  And with good reason.  He was insane.  He required umpires to roll the ball to the mound.  Not throw it.  If they threw it, he would let the ball go past him or hit his chest, where he would then pick it up from the ground.  If the catcher stood up, he would crouch down.  He leapt over the chalk base lines.  And he brushed his teeth between innings.  But the weirdest thing he did was wear a necklace made of the bones and teeth of animals he had killed.  Collecting trophies of things you've killed is what other celebrities do.  You know, celebrities like Jeffrey Dahmer and Robert Hansen.  Oh well, Turk is much more lovable.

 

Pass The Gravy

Delicious.  Now let's hit the diamond!

When it comes to sports drinks, turkey gravy is rarely high on the list.  But tell that to the 1894 Baltimore Orioles.  Every member of the team sat down and chugged the delicious nectar before batting practice.  It worked, too.  The team won 89 games and went to the Temple cup, the world series of the day.  They lost to the New York Giants.  Guess turkey gravy can't do it all.

 

Steve Lyons Wants To Moon You

Make it stop.

Steve Lyons already had the label of being an eccentric baseball player.  That label being "Psycho."  When playing infield, he became famous for playing games of hangman and tic-tac-toe with his cleats.  So it really came as no surprise when, after diving back to first to avoid a pick-off attempt, Lyons dropped his pants and brushed off his shirt in front of 15,000 people.  While it wasn't a superstition he practiced on a regular basis, it was his eccentricities, superstitious nature, and being a psychopath, that led to his need to get the dirt off his uniform IMMEDIATELY, regardless of who was watching.  In this case, 15,000 people were watching.  It earned him the nickname "Moon Man" Lyons.

 

Moises Alou:  Batting Gloves?  Nah, I'll just use my own piss"

Feel that?  That's my piss.

This is a pretty popular story.  Moises Alou famously doesn't use batting gloves.  He infamously pees on his own hands instead.  That's right.  He pees on his own hands.  Obviously there are worst things you can do to your own hands, but there are also a multitude of BETTER things you can do to your own hands.  There has to be a reason for this right?  Right.  Urine is believed to be have therapeutic medicinal and cosmetic uses, in this case, it is used to soften callouses on the hands, making batting easier.  There is no scientific evidence to back this up, although urea, a urine component, is shown to have some skin softening benefits.  We just hope that Moises does this for fun at this point.

 

Jason Giambi's Thong

NSFNKYWV:  Not Safe For Not Killing Yourself When Viewed

When hip-hop mogul and critically acclaimed lyricist Sisquo wrote his aptly titled "The Thong Song" he certainly did not have Jason Giambi in mind.  Seriously, there's a line where he's like "That thong th-thong thong thong...but not on Jason Giambi, though."  Here's the story: Giambi was hitting a paltry .193 early this season.  Instead of just dealing with it, Giambi decided that the most logical solution was to put on a shiny gold thong.  Unfortunately, the trend seemed to catch on with teammates Derek Jeter, Johnny Damon, and possibly Mike Mussina.