If their god doesn’t care about cancer, war, pollution etc, why bother with sports?! I come from a family who are largely evangelical and hearing what they pray for amazes me: a cousin prayed her husband would bag a deer on the first day of hunting and praise god! She heard a shot and he had his deer. ?. Or a patient I had who prayed over pooping. And praise god! She pooped. ?
I’m not poking fun at the problems and wishes folks pray over; just amazed they think it works and is proof god exists.

Well it's muddled thinking. I don't think such people really stop to think about how entitled and self-absorbed it is to imagine god is going to tip the scales of a mere game on your behalf at your request, and in the face of all his unfinished business with starving children and natural disasters and such like.

The way it actually plays out in between their ears is that the "best" team will have the "best" attitude and since submission to god is seen as a virtue, that's just one of the bases they want to cover in being worthy in some sense of winning. It's really a sort of superstitious ritual, although they would not admit to it in a million years.

A sporting contest should be a contest to determine which is the better team and who are the best players. Not which team or player is god's favorite.

Isn't there are rule that no one off the field is supposed to influence a game? If so, isn't asking god to interfere a violation?

Even god-believers should say, "No praying allowed!"

Thank you! I mean, seriously! Back in the day when I was a .... believer, I often thought this exact thought! In a world full of serious issues - war, poverty, hunger, disease - do these people actually believe a god with all of this on his plate gives a flying fuck about the outcome of this (football - basketball - baseball - hockey - etc. ) game? Maybe that's the problem! The supreme being is addicted to watching sports and doesn't answer his prayers!

I want to be generous and think they're praying nobody will be injured... but I know that's mostly not true. They really believe God cares if they score a touchdown.

It's as ridiculous as two nations going to war, with both claiming "God" is on their side. Consider the history of Europe, where every nation was a Christian nation, and all claimed the exact same God was on their side. (Apart from the Napoleonic Wars, where most French were explicitly anti-religious... and many on all sides were irreligious.) (Obviously I'm glossing over a lot of historical subtleties here, and I'm going to ignore all those who tax me for it, as I'm making note of it right here in my post.)

Likely an extension of their high school days … where it’s always appeared to me as ‘a workaround’ illegal prayer in public schools. ...but then I’ve little to no respect for athletes or their coaches, let alone their fans..

This is how they inform you that they are in the Cult of Sol Invictus, don'cha know

Yes they do. Some probably don't feel that they are talented enough to succeed on their own.

There was a MASH episode during which Father Mulhahy asked Hawkeye whether he believed that there is a God. Hawkeye answered that he didn't know, but he knew he wasn't good enough to do the things that he did.

That may be the paradigm affecting many.

yes especially when there fully aware that they put all the effort in to be sports people.

I think a lot of it is done without any thought. We had an a very successful athlete (In the UK) a few years ago, whose name escapes me, who professed his faith while competing but when he retired admitted that it was something to hang on to during the pressure moments and that it (faith) wasn't there when he stopped.

I think sometimes it is just a habit for them but some of them may and sometimes they do it not on their own behalf but for the benefit of others. Follow the money.