The little-known Origins of Sports' Most Peculiar Traditions

---The Gatorade Shower
The Gatorade shower began with the New York Giants in the mid-80s. According to several sources, including Jim Burt of the Giants, it began on October 28, 1985, when Burt performed the action on Bill Parcells after being angered over the coach's treatment of him that week. Burt insisted that Harry Carson be the one to dump the Gatorade on Parcells, because he was a favorite and wouldn't get in trouble. However, former Chicago Bears defensive tackle Dan Hampton claims he invented the shower in 1984 when the Bears dunked Mike Ditka upon clinching the NFC Central. The phenomenon gained national attention in the 1986 Giants season. Parcells was doused after 17 victories that season, culminating with Super Bowl XXI.
Boston Celtics coach Doc Rivers was reported to be the first NBA coach to receive a Gatorade shower when his team won the 2008 NBA championship. Paul Pierce dumped a cooler of red Gatorade over Rivers as the Celtics closed out Game 6 to clinch their first NBA title in 22 years.
---The Lambeau Leap
Many Packer players jump into the end zone stands in a celebration affectionately known as the "Lambeau Leap." The Lambeau Leap was invented by safety LeRoy Butler, who scored after a Reggie White fumble recovery and lateral against the L.A. Raiders in December 1993. It was later popularized by wide receiver Robert Brooks.
Occasionally, a visiting player will attempt a Lambeau Leap, only to be denied by Packers fans. This happened to then-Minnesota Vikings cornerback Fred Smoot when he intercepted a pass and returned it for a touchdown. During the 2007 NFC Championship game, New York Giants running back Brandon Jacobs faked a Lambeau Leap after scoring a touchdown, angering many Green Bay faithful in the stands. Before a game against the Packers on September 20, 2009, Cincinnati Bengals wideout Chad Ochocinco announced he would do a Lambeau Leap if he scored a touchdown, and then followed through by leaping into the arms of pre-arranged fans wearing Bengals jerseys.
--Cutting down the net
Legendary high school and college coach Everett Case is given credit for starting the practice in 1947. In his first season as coach of North Carolina State, Case's team won the Southern Conference tournament. Case decided to celebrate by taking the nets as a souvenir. The practice caught on and now college teams punctuate tournament titles with some twine trimming.
--Cheerleaders
Princeton graduate Thomas Peebles introduced the idea of organized crowds cheering at football games to the University of Minnesota. However, it was not until 1898 that University of Minnesota student Johnny Campbell directed a crowd in cheering "Rah, Rah, Rah! Ski-u-mah, Hoo-Rah! Hoo-Rah! Varsity! Varsity! Varsity, Minn-e-So-Tah!”, making Campbell the very first cheerleader and November 2, 1898 the official birth date of organized cheerleading. Soon after, the University of Minnesota organized a "yell leader" squad of 6 male students, who still use Campbell's original cheer today. Cheerleading started out as an all-male activity, but females began participating in 1923, due to limited availability of female collegiate sports. At this time, gymnastics, tumbling, and megaphones were incorporated into popular cheers, and are still used today. Today it is estimated that 97% of cheerleading participants overall are female, but males still make up 50% of cheering squads at the collegiate level.
-Throwing Octopi at Red Wings games
The Legend of the Octopus is a sports tradition during Detroit Red Wings home playoff games where octopuses are thrown onto the ice surface. The origins of the activity go back to the 1952 playoffs, when a National Hockey League team played two best-of-seven series to capture the Stanley Cup. The octopus, having eight arms, symbolized the number of playoff wins necessary for the Red Wings to win the Stanley Cup. The practice started April 15, 1952 when Pete and Jerry Cusimano, brothers and storeowners in Detroit's Eastern Market, hurled an octopus into the rink of The Old Red Barn. The team swept the Toronto Maple Leafs and Montreal Canadiens en route to winning the championship, as well as winning two of the next three championships.
Since 1952 the practice has persisted with each passing year. In one 1995 game, fans threw 36 octopuses, including a specimen weighing 38 pounds (17 kg). The Red Wings' unofficial mascot is a purple octopus named Al, and during playoff runs two of these mascots are also hung from the rafters of the Joe Louis Arena, symbolizing the 16 wins now needed to win the Stanley Cup. It has become such an accepted part of the team's lore, that fans have developed what is considered proper etiquette and technique for throwing an octopus onto the ice.
--Hat Trick
According to the Henri Henri hat store in Montreal, before 1967 when there were only the Original Six teams in the NHL, the store rewarded players who had scored three goals or more in one game at the Montreal Forum with a free hat, which brought the "Hat Trick" expression into the world of hockey. The earliest account of a hat being awarded for scoring three goals is known to have occurred in Toronto when a local businessman, Sammy Taft, was approached by the Chicago Black Hawks forward Alex Kaleta. According to legend, Kaleta entered Taft's shop to purchase a new hat but didn't have enough money. Taft arranged a deal with Kaleta stipulating that if Kaleta scored three goals as he played the Toronto Maple Leafs that night, he would give him a free hat. That night, on January 26, 1946, Kaleta scored four goals against the Maple Leafs and Taft made good on his offer.
While this account is credited by the Hockey Hall of Fame as the hat trick's origin in the NHL, there exists a competing story in Guelph, Ontario. In the 1950s, the Guelph Biltmore Mad Hatters of the Ontario Hockey Association (OHA), who were then a farm team of the National Hockey League (NHL)'s New York Rangers, were sponsored by Guelph-based Biltmore Hats, a leading manufacturer of hats with North American dominance. The sponsor would award any Madhatters player who scored three goals in a game with a new fedora.
--I'm going to Disneyland!
In his 1998 memoir Work in Progress, Disney CEO Michael Eisner credited his wife, Jane, with the idea for the campaign. According to Eisner, during the January 1987 grand opening for the Star Tours attraction at Disneyland, the couple dined with Dick Rutan and Jeana Yeager, who in December 1986 had piloted the first aircraft to fly around the world without stopping or refueling. After Jane Eisner asked what the pilots planned to do next, they replied, "Well, we're going to Disneyland." She later told her husband the phrase would make a great advertising campaign.
Weeks later, Disney launched the series following Super Bowl XXI on January 25, 1987 with a commercial featuring New York Giants quarterback Phil Simms. Simms was paid a reported $75,000 for his participation. The company later aired three more ads that year with other athletes following major sports championships.
In subsequent years, Disney reportedly has offered $30,000 to athletes and other stars for participating in the ads and appearing at one of its theme parks. Stars have expanded to include champions of baseball, basketball, and even american idol.
--Throwing out the first pitch
The ceremonial first ball is a longstanding ritual of American baseball in which a guest of honor throws a ball to mark the end of pregame festivities and the start of the game. Originally, the guest threw a ball from his/her place in the grandstand to the pitcher or catcher of the home team. At some point, this morphed into the guest standing in front of the pitcher's mound and throwing towards (but rarely reaching) home plate, though sometimes he or she may stand on the mound. The recipient of the pitch is usually a player from the home team.
Former Japanese Prime Minister Okuma Shigenobu was the first person to throw a ceremonial first pitch, doing so at a 1908 game in Koshien Japan.
President William Howard Taft started the American tradition in 1910 at Griffith Stadium, Washington, D.C., on the Washington Senators' Opening Day. Every President since Taft, with the exception of Jimmy Carter, has thrown out at least one ceremonial first ball or pitch, either for Opening Day, the All-Star Game, or the World Series, usually with much fanfare.
--The Seventh Inning Stretch
The origin of the seventh-inning stretch is disputed, and it is difficult to certify any purported history. One claimant is Brother Jasper of Mary, F.S.C., the man credited with bringing baseball to Manhattan College in the late 1800s. Being the Prefect of Discipline as well as the coach of the team, it fell to Brother Jasper to supervise the student fans at every home game. On one particularly hot and muggy day in 1882, during the seventh inning against a semi-pro team called the Metropolitans, the Prefect noticed his charges becoming restless. To break the tension, he called a time-out in the game and instructed everyone in the bleachers to stand up and unwind. It worked so well he began calling for a seventh-inning rest period at every game. The Manhattan College custom spread to the major leagues after the New York Giants were charmed by it at an exhibition game, and the rest is history.
However, a letter written by Harry Wright of the Cincinnati Red Stockings dated 1869 – 13 years earlier than Brother Jasper's inspired time-out — documented something very similar to a seventh-inning stretch. In the letter, he makes the following observation about the fans' ballpark behavior: "The spectators all arise between halves of the seventh inning, extend their legs and arms and sometimes walk about. In so doing they enjoy the relief afforded by relaxation from a long posture upon hard benches." Another tale holds that the stretch was invented by a manager stalling for time to warm up a relief pitcher.
A popular story for the origins of the stretch is that President William Howard Taft at a Washington Senators game in 1910 felt sore in his backside and decided to stand up and stretch. Upon seeing the chief executive stand, the rest of the spectators in attendance felt obligated to join the president in his gestures. This story is set at a far later date than the others, however.
As to the name of the practice, there appears to be no record of the phrase "seventh-inning stretch" from before 1920. By that time the practice was already at least 50 years old.