Women's Hoops Blog

Inane commentary on a game that deserves far better


Thursday, September 29, 2005

Via the newly-linked Truehoops, two studies purport to show that red uniforms help teams win close games.

Ethologists (animal-behavior experts) have found that red signals aggression or dominance in some nonhuman mammals; these studies looked for this effect in humans. Sports examined included European soccer and Olympic wrestling, boxing, and tae kwon do, which means the sample included at least some women.

In more color-wheel news, some Iowa profs and students want to repaint the locker room used by visiting football teams, which has been kept pink for decades (to embarrass, calm, or symbolically emasculate the Hawkeyes' opponents). A recent remodeling left the room pinker than ever.