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Before every game, the men's ice hockey team listens to a particular song to get everyone ready to play. You'd think it'd be some AC/DC track, something like "Thunderstruck" or "Hells Bells."
The Boston College team, however, takes a different route when it comes to pre-game routines.
"We listen to 'C'est La Vie' by B*witched. We're all excited and jacked up before games to a point where we might be a little bit too tense. It takes the edge off a little bit more, so we can really get focused on the ice and settle down," said senior forward Brian Boyle.
Check out "C'est La Vie" in your spare time if you can. You'll remember it from the late '90s, an all-girl group pop song that made me cringe and laugh at the same time.
Pre-game rituals are a large part of high school and college teams around the nation. These rituals range from simple high-fives from teammates before a game, to coordinated team dances or cheers, to the playing of bubble-gum pop songs to loosen up the tension in the locker room.
I remember my high school soccer team and how we used to listen to the same rap song before every game ("Lose Yourself" by Eminem).
I had my own personal rituals before every game. I'd wear the same socks (without washing them) during a winning streak.
I'd fist-pound my fellow defensemen and then the goaltender right before the opening whistle. Boyle revealed a personal ritual of his own: it started two years ago, when the then-sophomore forward was not happy with the way he was playing.
"I have a personal prayer that I say to St. Jude. I started saying it, I think, sophomore year. I had a turnaround and I started playing better and I stuck with that, and it's helped me out a ton," said Boyle.
You can count on seeing these types of rituals every game.
In college basketball, the group "circle and sway" has become popular in recent years. Last year, former BC point guard Louis Hinnant would stand in the middle of such a circle and yell different types of messages to his teammates.
This year's BC team has adopted some rituals of its own. During pre-game warm-ups, right after the public address announcer says his name, Tyrese Rice gives regular high-fives to all of his teammates until he gets to reserve guard Marquez Haynes.
Upon seeing Haynes, Rice squats down low to the ground. Haynes follows suit, and the two engage in a coordinated mix of swaying and high fives.
Rice then gets up, surveys the crowd, pacing slowly before wheeling around to greet the next player up for introduction.
Sean Marshall jumps off the bench, slaps high fives with the line of BC reserves, and makes eye contact with Rice.
Both players then suddenly take two power steps toward each other and leap high into the air, bumping each other's backs. Not even a sore left hamstring could stop Marshall from jumping into Rice last Saturday against Clemson.
The pre-game routines are part of the youth culture of this country, a culture that still thrives at the high school and college levels.
In the professional ranks, you would not see one team doing a coordinated dance ripped off from the Purple Cobras of Globo Gym in the movie Dodgeball. The UNC women's basketball team did just that before its game at BC.
You would not see a team playing indoor soccer in the locker room just an hour before the opening faceoff, a strategy the Maine women's ice hockey team used to loosen up before its game last week with BC. "C'est la vie" of the young athlete, especially in college.
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