When you are watching a basketball game, especially the NBA games, you notice that basketball players are chewing something. It is either their mouthpiece or their jerseys. One favorite thing basketball players like to chew is gum. Basketball players love and always chew gum, and here is the reason why.
Why do basketball players chew gum? Basketball players always chew gum, and they have a reason for doing that. Studies have proven that chewing gum has many benefits and can give athletes an enhancement. Chewing gum helps to increase memory and helps the body of basketball players to function well.
However, there is much more to learn about chewing gum during a basketball game. I am going to tell you the different benefits of chewing gum inside the court, and the bad benefits of it as well. If you are ready, start chewing your gum and continue reading!
What Are The Benefits Of Chewing Gum Inside The Basketball Court?
Below are the different benefits of chewing gum inside the basketball court. These benefits are proven to help basketball players and other athletes while playing the game.
Help You Burn Calories
When you chew gum, it will help you burn calories. It can help you burn calories on your whole body, most especially the calories on your face. Many studies have proven that chewing gums help people burn calories.
You can burn 11 calories an hour just by chewing a piece of gum. Chewing gum is beneficial for basketball players that want to burn their calories. This will help every basketball player to burn their fats fast.
Increase Your Memory
Chewing gum can also increase and improve your memory. When you chew gum, it increases the blood flow to your brain. Many studies have shown that this is a legitimate benefit of chewing gum.
Basketball is both a physical and mental game. You need to have astounding memory to compete. Chewing gum during a basketball game helps you to improve your basketball IQ. This is one of the reasons why many basketball players always chew gum.
Help You To Be Calm
Most basketball players get nervous before the game starts, and even me during my intramurals in high school. Some basketball players smoke cigars before the game, and some listen to cool basketball music to keep them calm and confident.
One benefit of chewing gum is it helps you to be calm. Many basketball players are chewing gum so that they can feel relaxed. If you are a basketball player that always feels nervous before the game starts, try chewing one stick of gum to be relaxed.
Fight Sleepiness
Another benefit of chewing gum on the basketball court is it fights sleepiness. Sometimes basketball players feel sleepy, especially if the other team dumped them. If the opponent leads by 30 points, it is boring to play already. Chewing gum is beneficial for a basketball player like you that feels sleepy in every game.
Aside from these benefits, there are other benefits of chewing gum. What are those other benefits? The other benefits are:
- Reduce heartburn
- Eliminate nausea
- Lessen anxiety and depression
- Keep teeth healthy.
- Improve your jawline
If you want to get these other benefits while playing inside the basketball court, start chewing gum already.
Is It Good To Chew Gum While Playing Basketball?
Chewing gum became a trend in the basketball world when Michael Jordan started using it. The trend started to grow until the next NBA stars started to imitate Michael Jordan by chewing gum. However, many players ask if it is good to chew gum while they play basketball. Here is my answer for you.
Is it good to chew gum during basketball games? Yes! Chewing gum can help you on the court. It has many benefits, and it was proven already by science. Chewing gum can help basketball players and athletes to play at their highest level.
In my personal opinion, chewing gum is helpful for all basketball players. It is beneficial for basketball players that have anxiety because it helps lessen the anxiety of a person. Chewing gum can also help fight stress, sleepiness, and it can increase your basketball IQ.
However, aside from the good side of chewing gum while on the court, it is also better for us to take a look at some bad sides of it. Let’s take a look at the bad sides of chewing gum on the basketball court.
Negative Effects Of Chewing Gum During Basketball Game
Like I have said above, there are many good benefits chewing gum can give to basketball players and other athletes. However, to fully understand this subject, it is better to look at the bad side. So, what are the bad effects of chewing gum during basketball games?
There are no serious negative effects of chewing gum in your mouth during a basketball game. The only bad thing that can happen is if you choke on it. However, the risk of choking your gum during the game is low. The other thing that players get scared of is if they bumped into other players and get their gum stuck on their throat.
It can be dangerous if your gum is stuck inside your throat because you may have a hard time breathing. However, the chances of this thing happening is low. And if ever your gum gets stuck on your throat, you can drink water and swallow it.
It is also possible that you spit your gum on the court, which can be disgusting. Sometimes, while you are chewing gum on the court, you don’t notice that your gum already fell from your mouth. This often happens when you are talking with other players.
When you talk with other players, sometimes you forget that you have gum inside your mouth and you accidentally spit it. It happened to me before and I felt so embarrassed.
Is Chewing Gum Still Allowed In The NBA?
In today’s NBA, we rarely see NBA players chewing gum during the game. So, does it mean that chewing gum isn’t allowed in the NBA already? Is chewing gum banned in the NBA? Here is the answer for you.
Is chewing gum still allowed in the NBA? There is no phrase stated in the rule book of the NBA that chewing gum is prohibited. So I think that NBA players are allowed to chew gum during a basketball game.
However, why don’t we see any NBA players right now that chew gum? All we see is NBA players that chew their mouthguards and their jerseys. What happened?
The last two NBA players that love chewing gum are Ray Allen and Dwayne Wade. These two former Miami Heat players love to chew gum during games. However, when both of them retired, the trend of chewing gum dropped down.
The reason why chewing gum is no longer famous is because of mouth guards. Basketball players and NBA players started to wear mouth guards, and because of that, chewing a piece of gum will be difficult. They use their mouth guards as their chewing material during the basketball game.
Why Do NBA Players Chew Gum?
Like I have said above, the trend of chewing gum during basketball games is starting to disappear because of the soft mouth guards. However, there are still some NBA players that chew gum during warm-ups and practice.
The reason why NBA players chew gum is because of the benefits. Chewing gum can lower the stress and reduce the nervousness of a basketball player before the game starts. It can also help basketball players improve their memory, which is essential during basketball games. Chewing gum is a pre-game ritual of the NBA players and other basketball players.
Chewing gum has become a trend when Michael Jordan and Kobe Bryant start to do it. These two NBA players are influential and anything they do will be imitated by young basketball players. This includes the chewing of gum. These two famous NBA players are the reason why chewing gum companies got rich.
There are already few NBA players chewing gums, and most of them chew gums during warm-ups and practice only. I have never seen any NBA player chew gum during a basketball game after Dwayne Wade retired.
Two Famous NBA Players That Loves To Chew Gum
There are two famous NBA players love to chew gum. Because of these two NBA players, the chewing gum companies become richer! Who are they? Let’s find out who they are!
Michael Jordan
I know everyone knows Michael Jordan. Michael Jordan became one of the most influential NBA players because of his fadeaway and dunking on free-throw moves. One thing that made Jordan famous is his habit of chewing gum.
Michael Jordan loves to chew gum. Jordan is aware of the benefits of chewing gum in basketball. Gum helps Jordan to become relaxed and play with his full potential. Because of these benefits, Michael Jordan became consistent with his chewing gum habit. His habit became popular and imitated by younger basketball players that loved him.
Kobe Bryant
Many fans think that Kobe Bryant is the second version of Michael Jordan. However, I disagree with them. Kobe may copy some skills and moves of Jordan, but they still have different kinds of mentality and confidence. Kobe loves Jordan, which is why he imitates Jordan. Another thing Kobe imitated is the habit of chewing gum.
Kobe Bryant chewed gum also, but he only did it for a short time. Why did he stop chewing gum? Because his father told him to do so. Chewing gum can make his mouth dry, Kobe’s dad said. Kobe Bryant’s father suggested he stop chewing gum and chew his jersey.
This may sound disgusting because the jersey may have sweat. However, not for Kobe. The father of Kobe told him to suck on his jersey to keep him hydrated. Yes, you got the right idea! His father told him to suck his jersey to drink the sweat from his jersey to keep him hydrated. Sounds yuck right? But not for Kobe because it benefited him.
Does Chewing Gum Improve Your Basketball Performance?
Chewing a piece of gum can help you to play better on the court. However, I don’t guarantee it because it still depends on whether you play well or not. When you chew gum, it doesn’t mean that you will have the skills of Kobe and Jordan.
Your performance inside the court still depends on your work and the practices you made. You cannot rely on gum to help you play better. You have to rely on yourself. Gum can help you feel relaxed and reduce your anxiety. It can also help you to improve your basketball IQ so that you can make the right decisions on the court.
However, chewing gum will never be solely responsible for your overall performance on the court because there are lots of factors. Why don’t you try to chew gum and see what happens? If you are going to try it, make sure to buy a non-sugar gum.
Final Words
Chewing gum during a basketball game has been proven to help basketball players on the court because of its benefits. However, basketball players should not rely on gum and hope they will have better performance when they chew one.
Do you love chewing gum while playing basketball? If yes, what are the reasons why? Give us your answers below!
