Battle Of The Uniforms - Do Uniforms Affect The Outcome Of Games?

25 25 BATTLE OF THE UNIFORMS DO UNIFORMS AFFECT THE OUTCOME OF GAMES The world of collegiate athletics is a fast evolving venture for the institutions that seek to create a winning tradition. As the landscape continues to grow-and as the money continues to flow-teams have turned to the uniforms their 25 25 teams wear as a means of recruiting both players and fans. In this infographic, we take a look at the role that uniforms play in a school's athletic standing. CONFIDENCE OR COINCIDENCE? A study on judo athletes in the 2004 Olympics claimed that athletes wearing blue were more likely to win than those wearing white. This was attributed to the fact that: • Blue uniforms were brighter, thus more intimidating. • White uniforms were easier to see, which allowed opponents to anticipate movements. However, a pair of Dutch researchers pointed out several factors that the study did not take into account: The top 11% of judo The "loser's pool" had Athletes in blue had athletes were seeded, a uniform color bias. slightly longer periods and received blue Athletes in blue were more of time between uniforms. likely to have won their matches. first match. (Due to seeding) When accounting for these factors and comparing to 71 other judo tournaments, researchers concluded that blue and white uniforms were an equal match. In other studies, researchers have found that the colors red and orange can signal: DOMINANCE AGGRESSION One study found that athletes in red uniforms have a winning bias over blue uniforms in: Greco-Roman Taekwondo Freestyle Wrestling Boxing Wrestling Why? Psychological research shows that color can impact an individual's: Mood Behavior Brain Activity Posture Ultimately, researchers have concluded that more experiments are required to determine whether uniform color truly affects athletic outcomes. NCAA CHAMPIONS We can look at NCAA football and basketball champions to find trends in uniform colors and mascots. NCAA MEN'S DIVISION I BASKETBALL TOURNAMENT WINNERS WORE: 1960-2008 Since 2009 4% 6% 6% 14.2% 29% 12% 14.2% 42.8% 16% 27% 28.5% = Light Blue = Red = Blue = Dark Blue = Dark Red = Orange = Green COLLEGE FOOTBALL CHAMPIONS HAVE WORN: 11.7% 17.6% 35.2% = Dark Red = Red = Orange = Purple 35.2% * USC won the BCS National Championship in 2004 but later vacated the win. Since 1998 BYU In 1999, BYU changed its football uniform colors from Royal Blue to Navy Blue and Tan. They reverted Winning % 1999-2004: 548 to their more traditional uniforms Winning % 2005-2014: 698 FOOTBALL and ditched the tan in 2005. In 1993, Colorado State changed their Winning % 1970-1992: 382 football uniform colors from traditional COLORADO STATE green and yellow to green and gold. Winning % 1993-2014: 541 FOOTBALL THE MASCOTS NUMBER OF NCAA CHAMPIONSHIPS* WITH FOLLOWING MASCOTS SINCE 1998 These championships include both football and basketball 4 GATORS HUSKIES S3? CRIMSON TIDE BLUE DEVILS TIGERS S2? SEMINOLES WILDCATS TAR HEELS BUCKEYES CARDINALS LONGHORNS TERRAPINS 1 HURRICANES ORANGE TROJANS JAYHAWKS SOONERS YOLUNTEERS SPARTANS NUMBER OF NCAA CHAMPIONSHIPS* IN THESE GROUPS GROUPS: People - Seminoles, Tar Heels, Sooners, Spartans, Trojans, Volunteers Animals - Longhorns, Terrapins, Huskies Predator - Gators, Tigers, VWildcats Colors - Orange, Crimson Tide Mythical Creature - Blue Devils Plant - Buckeyes Event - Hurricane 6. 3 2 1 lowa State first became known as the "Cyclones" following a 36-0 drubbing of Northwestern in 1895/ The Chicago Tribune headline read "Struck by a Cyclone" in reference to a particularly active tornado season. IOWA STATE SPORTS WEAR U N L I M I T E D http://phys.org/news/2008-02-athletic-uniform-winners-losers.html http://www.wsj.com/article_email/SB123863320734780981-IMyQjAxMDISMZA4NjYwMzYzWj.html http://www.isualum.org/en/news_views/traditions/traditions_of_iowa_state/traditions_and_history/cyclones/ http://byucougars.com/home/m-football http://byucougars.com/m-football/byu-football-year-year-results http://www.deseretnews.com/article/865574070/Tee- ples-No-one-can-argue-that-changing-BYUS-colors-has-been-a-business-success.html?pg=all http://www.sports-reference.com/cfb/schools/colorado-state/ http://coloradoaggies.com/CSUFootballUniforms2.html EYENT PLANT BIRD MYTHICAL CREATURE COLORS PREDATORS ANIMALS PEOPLE