Title: “Religious Players”

General Information about Item:

• Genre and Sub Genre
  • Customary Folklore: Custom and Belief

• Language: English

• United States of America

Informant Data:

Name: Alexander Agadjanian

• Dartmouth Class of 2018
• Residence: Hanover, New Hampshire (During the school year), Tempe Arizona (During off-terms)
• Years of association with The Dartmouth: 3rd year
• Age: 20 years old
• Affiliation with Dartmouth Football: Writer for The Dartmouth (Campus Newspaper)

Contextual Data:

• Religious faith has always played an important role throughout sports, both in professional and amateur leagues. Many players can be observed praying, meditating, closing their eyes, etc. mainly before games, helping them stay calm and find strength through their faith.

Item:

Customs and Beliefs: “Religious Prayers”:

• Around 1/2 – 2/3 of all players have been observed to run onto the field and the religious players can be observed kneeling down and praying before the start of every game. Some of them hold their hands in prayer and are silent and immobile from several seconds to several minutes. They are in deep thought and undisturbed and likely practicing their religious faith.

Associated file (a video, audio, or image file):

Interview with Alexander

Transcript of Associated File:

“Another minor one that’s more common in college football is after their entrance onto the field, their final entrance right before the game, the more religious players sprint out to the opposite end zone and kneel and just say a prayer. A good ⅔ to a ¾ all go to the opposite end zone and say a prayer.”

Collector’s Comments: 

• Alexander sheds a unique perspective into Dartmouth’s football games that many fans who do not show up early enough may not be able to observe. He sees this custom performed across the board in the world of sports and agrees that such beliefs are inseparable from the actions of the players. It is clear that there is a mental effect praying has before games.

Collector’s Name:

Kang Min Daniel Lee

Tags/Keywords:

• Customary Folklore
• Custom
• Praying
• Football
• Dartmouth