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April 12, 2013

Strange But True!

Q. Sports-loving friends are coming in from out of town and you really want to show off a home team victory. So which sport should you take them to see? a) baseball b) basketball c) football d) ice hockey e) soccer

A. As “social facilitation” theory suggests, “what skilled athletes do well, they often do even better when people are watching,” says David G. Myers in “Psychology: Tenth Edition.” This energizing effect on the part of an enthusiastic audience probably contributes to the home-field advantage that has shown up in studies of more than a quarter million college and professional athletic events in various countries. Home teams win about 6 in 10 games (60 percent) overall: baseball (56 percent), football (57 percent), ice hockey (60 percent), basketball (63 percent) and soccer (67 percent).


 
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