Gregg Zaun, the former Toronto Blue Jay and current analyst for Rogers Sportsnet, introduced a segment on Wednesday about baseball and superstitions: Wade Boggs ate chicken before every game, teammates don't talk to a pitcher during a no-hitter, that kind of thing.
"Baseball players are the most superstitious people in the entire world!" Zaun declared. How he reached this conclusion is unclear, but speaking of bold declarations that lack actual evidence, the Sportsnet piece did not mention those bulky, colourful, "titanium-infused" necklaces worn by certain players for their alleged health benefits.
Turn on a playoff game, and you are bound to see someone sporting one of these necklaces, the most common of which is produced by a company called Phiten USA. Elvis Andrus and C.J. Wilson on the Texas Rangers, Joba Chamberlain and Curtis Granderson on the New York Yankees, Placido Polanco on the Philadelphia Phillies and Tim Lincecum on the San Francisco Giants: these are just the players I've noticed in the past couple of days; there are many others.
Colourful though they may be--the company has a licensing deal with Major League Baseball and co-ordinates products with the players' uniforms -- the $50 necklaces are not a fashion statement. Phiten says its products "work with your body's energy system, helping to regulate and balance the flow of energy throughout your body. Proper energy balance helps to alleviate discomfort, speed recovery and counteract fatigue."
My gracious, that sounds exciting, doesn't it? Put down the steroids, coach, I got me a new necklace!
Phiten says the claims are legitimate. It has developed something called the "high-intensity Phild Process," which creates "miniscule beads of titanium" that are embedded into its products.
This material now possesses the ability, it says, to "stabilize energy, permitting a greater flow of energy withless waste." There's even a nifty diagram with poor, sad, tired, disorganized ions on one side that are whipped into military-like efficiency via the Phild Process.
John Green, a professor of sports medicine at the University of Washington, told a Seattle newspaper: "I know of absolutely no scientific evidence to implicate titanium to improving performance." Other doctors have noted that while the body does produce electrical fields, there's zero evidence they can be influenced by titanium, and no evidence that they could be manipulated into decreasing fatigue levels.
Though Phiten alludes to its scientists on its website, there is nothing in the way of published research to back up its claims, and it hasn't sought regulatory approval to be treated as a medical product. Have a look at how baseball players actually wear these necklaces: loosely, usually with a t-shirt and jersey underneath. It seems a rather shoddy route of transmission.
At least Phiten goods seem a surefire testament to one thing: the placebo effect. Former NFL quarterback Damon Huard said a couple years back that "If I'm not wearing my necklaces to bed I'm a little stiffer. I think there is something to it." And that's just it: as long as you think a necklace is boosting your energy, you may feel a little more peppy.
Phiten says its products are more than a placebo, though you'll have to trust it on the science. No wonder, then, that a section of its site warns against buying fake Phitens. It would be a shame if someone just whipped up a bunch of plastic necklaces and then claimed that they could regulate the body's energy, wouldn't it?
