This article about why Academy Awards speeches are so bad cites psychological research indicating that when people believed they had a supportive friend on the other side of the mirror, they were considerably slower in [performing a difficult task] compared with when they believed a stranger was watching.
If those results also apply to competitive tasks, then apparently the home field advantage that sports teams enjoy is NOT related to fan support. Rather, one would expect teams with demanding, hostile "fans" (think Phillies or Red Sox) to have a relative advantage over teams whose fans resemble Cub fans.
One of my most vivid high school quiz-bowl memories is playing well against a team from Houston, in game at a national tournament in Houston. Every time their team got an answer right, the audience (very large by quiz-bowl standards) roared. Silencing the crowd made me happy and smug. (But no, I didn't do the hand-to-the-ear or any of those trash-talk gestures. We were one of those suit-and-tie wearing teams that wouldn't dream of being classless. Should I feel guilty that I dressed better as a high school championship player than I do as a high school championship assistant TD?)
Oh, getting back to Home Field Advantage: I imagine an overwhelming majority of the effect is the road team's inconvenience of travel.
Posted by Matt Bruce at February 26, 2007 11:40 AM