Cal's Lauren Greif blogs.

The colder weather of November has rolled in and teams across the country are now well into “game mode”—and this consists of scouting opponents, shorter practices and establishing game-day routines.

Game-day traditions are important because some of us—and this includes me — believe that winning and losing games can depend as much on how game-day rituals go as it does on how we play on the court. You know … how can I be expected to focus on the game if I don’t have my designated game-day spandex on?