I love when the New Zealand rugby team does the haka before each game
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yiKFYTFJ_kw
Letting a cat onto the ice before a hockey game… Maybe it will become a tradition. 
I like watching a 1500 pound buffalo run around the field before a game.
I love when the band returns for the ‘5th quarter’ at Camp Randal and the Badger faithful stay to sing.
Clemson football team running down the hill in Death Valley and touching Howard’s Rock before every home game.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=tODlPxhbGF8
Jump Around at UW-Madison!
1)The silly stuff they do between innings at minor league baseball games
2)Watching the young kids in class A minor league ball ,the 19,20 year olds with stars in their eyes, hustling out every play, excited if you go up to them after the game and compliment them on their play, before they become pro players and so many end up looking like they phone it in.
3)Going to a NY Jets game on the home opener, having someone (being the Jets) make an extremely dumb play or mistake, and the fans yelling “why do I subject myself to this every year by buying season tickets? I need a shrink!”
4)Going to little league games and watching the kids play
5)After winning a big game, watching pro baseball players act like 11 year olds who just won their little league championship game:)
6)The texts I get all the time from my son (one of the world’s only combined music geek and sports nut) about things going on in sports, the fun, the bizarre and more, seeing his passion for it.
@TonyK, I hope they let kids do the “mom event” with whatever woman is special to them (grandma, aunt, family friend, etc) if their mom isn’t able to do it for whatever reason.
And I second the MN state hockey tournament hair video!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZcW7Up7nIaU
Masked Rider for Texas Tech home football games!
I’ll get stadium-specific here:
- The singing of "Varsity" at UW (Wisconsin) games. Badgers and Badger fans sing it loudly and it can get emotional. You can find versions of it on a popular internet video site.
- The 5th Quarter after football games at Camp Randall Stadium (also UW).
- Jump Around at Camp Randall between the 3rd and 4th quarters
- Buttercup at Camp Randall
- The sausage race at Miller Park (Brewers)
- The blaze orange in the stands at Lambeau Field in the fall
- The Lambeau Leap
Spirit circle after an ultimate frisbee game.
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No, that is the only part not optional.
Everyone cheering every runner at high school cross country meets. Maybe there are new names now, but we found yelling “Go Taylor! Go Jordan!” worked for boys and girls races whether you knew the kids or not.
Cyclists sipping champagne while circling the Champs Elysee.
I am pretty uninterested in sports in general but I do enjoy watching college football, and in particular I enjoy the traditions associated with the animal mascots. Boomer and Sooner, and Reveille, are my favorites.
@jacquelynw, Middlebury College also does the haka before rugby matches. They psyched out my son’s team before the match and then destroyed them in a regional playoff game. My son got really into rugby in college and chose New Zealand to go and study abroad. He saw a few hakas over there and told me how good their college teams were.
Going to see football games at West Point, seeing the cadets marching in, firing the cannons when they score, and watching the Army football team who are at a severe disadvantage compared to division 1 football teams, gamely play until the clock runs out. Plus I love seeing the young cadets who are the cheerleaders, bunch of self assured, strong young women, makes my wife and I proud how far the country has come:)
A few years ago Sports Illustrated listed Middlebury’s February graduation ceremony as the best college sport tradition. The graduates line up in their caps and gowns at the top of the college-owned Snow Bowl and descend in formation to the base of the mountain to receive their diplomas.
- Just prior the start of the game hockey players will skate past their own goalie and whack his pads lightly with their sticks as encouragement.
- Every year Harvard and Yale students compete to see who can come with the cleverest and most outrageous forms of trash-talking t-shirts, signs, and banners for the big football game. But at the same time the students of the home team school will always graciously host hundreds of students from the opposing school - allowing them to crash in dorm rooms all over campus and thus minimizing their travel expense to the opposing town.
College rugby teams form a tight circle locking arms together and holler blood curdling epithets before the matches start. The year my son was captain he would stand inside the circle of players yelling various things to inspire his teammates. The four-letter words out of his mouth were very educational. But the women’s teams take it to another level.
Personal one: when my daughters were in grade school we baked cookies or cupcakes once or twice a week for the Wisconsin Timer Rattlers (A level minor league team). The players would have red and black frosting (team colors) on their lips when they entered the field for the start of the game.
That team had a Keebler K guy picked from the opposing team. Whenever he struck out the fans would be pelted with packets of Keebler cookies.
And watching those huge line backers for the Pack gently “ride” little kids’ bikes was priceless!
For four years I baked green and gold cupcakes for two entire grade levels at my kids school every Thursday night during football season.
A few years ago the Phillies AA team had rally llamas that would be led onto the field when needed.
My husband’s favorite tradition is gluttony night. Tomorrow we can eat everything we want during the game with a wristband for only a few bucks.