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While we all wait to see if there will be an NFL season this year, we reflect on the fact that "home court advantage" has been proven to be true in every sport. Is this because the cheering fans make the home team more likely to win or is it because the refs are prejudiced–maybe without even realizing it?

Fan enthusiasm has been discounted: In basketball, free-throw percentages are the same at home and away. In baseball, a pitcher’s strike-to-ball ratio is the same at home and away. And it’s not the travel tiredness: Teams from the same metro area (such as the Yankees and the Mets) lose at the same rate as teams from across the country when playing in their rival’s stadium. read more

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Football is a tough game, and players need plenty of testosterone in order to win, and studies of wrestlers demonstrate how this hormone helps men win. The winners of wrestling matches have greater increases in testosterone levels than losing wrestlers. In both groups, testosterone levels increase from before to after the match. However, the increase was greater for wrestlers who won their matches. The findings are consistent with studies linking testosterone changes to aggressive and competitive behavior in male animals.
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During the football playoffs, we began to wonder how humans, unlike any other species on Earth, learned to throw long distances. New research suggests that this unique evolutionary trait is entangled with language development in a way critical to our very existence. In fact, throwing made us human.
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It’s the football season and football means beer. A new study found that 8% of fans who agreed to be tested after attending professional football and baseball games were too drunk to legally drive, and 40% had booze in their bodies.
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