Peer Pressure, Social Media Style 01/27/2011 by Eorange

Sundays Tweet-ocide of Jay Cutlers character seemed like a landmark event in the evolving relationship between sports and technology. Who ever heard of a mass flogging of a quarterback, leading to the man dissolving into tears, leading to an entire day of soul-searching by a national sports community? Well, it turns out, this phenomenon has been gathering steam for a while. And its already done a lot more damage than you can possibly imagine. Say hello to social contagion. Social contagion is when a behavior or attitude passes from one person to a group, or vice versa. Youve heard the saying that when one person yawns, everyone starts yawning. And perhaps youve heard of the study showing that better goal celebrations create better chances of winning. Well, whether its a yawn or a Dougie rendition or a shank into the woods, one persons behavior can affect the whole group. Thats not just the chemistry term you hear thrown around on sports radio. Thats science. And thats what happened Sunday night. One person lobbed a Tweet grenade at the injured Bears quarterback and soon everyone got the fever. This gets to the heart a lot of the tension between media and coaches. The press wants to know who screwed up  even if it was the referee. Often, coaches want to point the finger, too. But blaming is one of the worst social contagions of all. Athletes will see a coach blame a ref and they will subconsciously start blaming the ref, or teammates, or any number of factors. The blamestorming will spread quickly -- almost immediately --just like the common cold. Then personal responsibility erodes. Word of mouth has been shifting to word of keyboard for a while. Studies have shown that weight gain, drug and alcohol use, even loneliness and depression are powerfully contagious via online networks. Thats been known for some time, but whats being shown now is how a behavior can be spread not only to the recipient of an e-mail, text or social network sharing function, but to anyone who reads about a behavior. So when an athlete rips someone on Twitter, its just as powerful as if he rips that person to his face. In fact, it might even be more damaging, as outsiders will catch the blame contagion and start thinking negatively about that player or the entire team. Then fans will react by ranting on their own Twitter accounts, which are sometimes read (and internalized) by athletes themselves. See: Cutler, Jay. This can have more subtle and scary effects than you realize. Calling an athlete mistake- prone can get to that athlete (and teammates) with the click of the Share button. And since highlights are more ubiquitous than ever, a clip of a few wince-worthy turnovers can stick in the memories of not only those who made them, but those who might make them after watching them over and over on YouTube or SportsCenter. Perhaps the bloopers shown on the JumboTron during timeouts -- which we know the athletes love to watch -- should be replaced by Plays of the Week. So the next time you watch the monotone Patriots coach Bill Belichick say nothing remotely colorful in a post-game press conference, dont roll your eyes. Instead, remember the growing problem of social contagion and thank the Hoodie for being a human hand sanitizer. And the next time you absolutely need someone to blame for your teams errors, maybe you should start with the person writing your angry Tweets.

Color Schemes 01/27/2011 by Eorange

What gives a team an extra edge in a big game? Is it the athleticism? The coaching? The chemistry? Or could it be color? We all know how Boise State University painted its football field blue as a way to draw attention to the school. It worked. And the team has won on that field  a lot. Since the dawn of the blue turf, the team has not lost a home WAC game, it is 77-2 at home since 1999, and Boise is now a national power despite its small size and budget. Coincidence? Maybe not. The use of color  and how it resonates in the brain  is still a fairly new science, and we dont yet fully understand its power. But color has long been a part of sports culture. We associate our favorite sports teams by hue: the Red Wings, White Sox, Cleveland Browns, the Delaware Blue Hens and Syracuse Orange (my personal favorite for obvious reasons) are among a few teams to incorporate color into their name. And the meaning behind color affects nearly every area of life: clothing, graphic design, packaging, food choices, etc. But color can also be a powerful psychological tool. It can be used to sen a positive or negative message, encourage sales, calm or incite a crowd, or even make an athlete pump more iron. In academic circles, this is known as semiotics  or, in other words, the study of signs and symbols. That includes color. Uniforms, equipment, team logos, and even stadiums all employ the psychology of color as a way to convey messages -- whether they know it or not. This is similar to the way that the color of your car reveals a lot about you: your personality, your traits, and even how satisfied you are with your life. So when we look at the connection between sports and color, what does all of this mean? Research has shown that women from the U.S., Germany and China find men more attractive and desirable when they are pictured in red. (I argue the same can be said of men, as women have long-known the power a red dress and some red lipstick.) Another piece of research found that referees are biased in favor of athletes who wear red. It has also been found that wearing red is linked to a higher probability of winning across a range of sports. Some years ago, a study of 56 seasons of English soccer found that, on average, teams in red won more home games than teams in other colors. Another report showed boxers dressed in red often performed better. Perhaps this is because our perception of red has an evolutionary basis, with our forebears knowing it as the color of blood, power and danger. Athletes may have a subconscious reaction when they see opponents wearing red, putting them at an inherent disadvantage. Does this mean sports teams should wear more red? Maybe so. When opponents are equally matched, the effect of color can be enough to tip the balance in the favor of the team wearing red. As semiotics advances, maybe we will see NBA and MLB teams take after the NHL and NFL, in which the darker color is usually worn at home. But a disclaimer: when there is a clear talent advantage, color has no effect on outcome. Sorry, but there will be no color doping scandal. As for blue? Some studies are now showing weight-lifters can lift more in a blue gym. In fact, almost all types of sports performance are enhanced in blue surroundings. People tend to be more productive in a blue setting because they are calm and focused on the task at hand. (This is probably good news for travelers on JetBlue.) Does that mean Boise State is more calm and focused than opponents? Could be. Blue also fosters creativity, and weve seen what head coach Chris Petersen can do with play-calling under pressure. Of course the sample size is too small to make conclusions, so athletic directors might want to wait for more information before heading out to the Behr or Glidden outlet. And theres really no viable response for teams like the Tulane Green Wave. But perhaps eventually Michigan should sub out its Maize Rage fan section for a Blue Crew. And maybe the Detroit Lions should paint Ford Field blue; they have nothing more to lose. Either way, expect more and more teams to get an edge by wearing red and painting the town blue. Though be careful. Eastern Washington recently colored its football field red. With too much wear and tear, the Eagles may be playing on pink. Erica Orange is Vice President of Weiner, Edrich, Brown, Inc., a leading futurist consulting group based in New York City