February 13, 2015

FRIDAY the 13th- How have the Zags fared on this date?


Today is Friday the 13th, a day generally thought of as an unlucky one. As such, I wondered how the Gonzaga Bulldogs have fared playing games on this day and it led me to that answer, as well as some other interesting things. Read on for the odd and bizarre info!

To most people it is all rather silly, but to many it is very real. There were 13 people at The Last Supper, Hotels and Hospitals generally skip the 13th floor, Alfred Hitchcock was born on this day, President Edgar Hoover, and Napoleon were afraid of it, and President Franklin D. Roosevelt was afraid to travel on this day! 

If you are afflicted with the fear of Friday the 13th you are not alone. The Stress Management Center and Phobia Institute in North Carolina estimates that between 17 and 21 million people in the United States have a diagnosable phobia of Friday the 13th. The illness is more properly known as "friggatriskaidekaphobia." It’s pronounced "fri-gah-tri-sk-eye-de-kah-fo-bia." 

The word, a portmanteau, means a person is afraid of Friday the 13th. Triskaidekaphobia is the fear of the number 13, and friggaphobia is the fear of Friday...If you put them together and you have friggatriskaidekaphobia. 

Now, I for one have never been afraid to walk under a ladder, break a glass window, or had any extra fear on this date, but I was curious about whether or not this rather dreary day is something ZAG fans should fear as it relates to our team. In other words, how has Gonzaga fared in games played on this ominous day? You will be surprised at what I found out.

Oddly enough, the Zags have never actually played a game ON a Friday the 13th. But, in their history, they have played exactly 13 games on the 13th! So, how did we do? This is what I learned:


The games-

1/13/2011 Pepperdine 92-75 WIN
2/13/2010 San Diego 82-65 WIN
11/13/2007 Idaho 80-41 WIN
1/13/2007 Santa Clara 77-69 WIN
2/13/2006 Portland 97-83 WIN
1/13/2005 LMU 76-65 WIN
12/13/2003 MIssouri 87-80 WIN (O.T.)
2/13/2003 St. Mary's 73-49 WIN
1/13/2001 St. Mary's 102-48 WIN
1/13/2000 USF 96-73 WIN 
12/13/1999 Wa Huskies 77-66 WIN
2/13/1999 San Diego 69-62 WIN
3/13/1999 Stanford 82-74 WIN

We are undefeated on this day. Gonzaga has played 13 games on this date and won all of them.

What does all this mean, exactly? I duhno....but I will say that apparently the 13th is a very, very, lucky day for ZAG Basketball!

GO ZAGS!!~ 

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