Red Advantage ?

[Nitroxextreme]

i believe that lighting has just as big of an influence as color
when combined they can determine which side will win

at montclair mayhem (great job 555)
the lights were normal gym lights and gave off alittle bit of amber
as a result the blue side was able to see clearer

[Mr. Lim]

The articles continue to roll in. So who's going to start the petition to get FIRST to switch the alliance colours to Fuschia and Seafoam? Wouldn't that be spiffy?

Article stolen from the Toronto Star.

May 19, 2005. 06:43 AM


Do winners owe debt to being in the red? Team colours found to impact performance. Scientists think it is linked to testosterone.


PETER CALAMAI
SCIENCE REPORTER

OTTAWA—Science has finally explained why the Leafs can never win the Stanley Cup — the players are sporting the wrong colours.

Wearing red apparently gives male athletes a slight competitive edge in both team and individual sports, two British anthropologists conclude in a study published today in the journal Nature. Blue was one of the colours of the losers in their research.

The scientists found that red could tip the balance between closely matched competitors by analyzing results from four combat sports in last year's Athens Olympics as well as matches at soccer's Euro 2004 championship in Portugal.

This red edge is probably somehow related to testosterone levels, said researcher Robert Barton at the University of Durham.

"In primates, birds and fishes, a greater display of red in the males indicates higher testosterone and that animal often dominates other males. In humans we get red in the face when we're angry and pale when we're afraid," he said.

Barton and colleague Russell Hill decided to test if the same thing happened when male sports competitors wore red outfits. The red might trigger a testosterone surge in the wearer, suppress testosterone in the opponents or do both.

"It was only a hunch. We were pretty bowled over when we started looking at the results," Barton told the Toronto Star in an interview.

The initial evidence came from four sports in the Athens Olympics last summer — boxing, taekwondo, Greco-Roman wrestling and freestyle wrestling. Olympic officials randomly assigned red or blue outfits to the competitors.

Yet 16 of the 21 rounds had more red winners than blue winners. The same colour edge applied across all weight classes, with 19 of 29 having more red winners.

When Barton and Hill looked more closely at the results, they found that the colour advantage tipped the balance largely when competitors were relatively evenly matched.

Canadian wrestling champion Daniel Igali may be a specific instance of the winning red syndrome. He wore a red singlet when he won gold in the 2000 Sydney Olympics.

But in Athens last August the blue-clad Igali was eliminated by a Cuban competitor who wore red.

The Durham researchers then tested their theory by studying the success of five teams in the European soccer championships last year — England, Croatia, Latvia, Spain and the Czech Republic.

None had a home-field advantage since the games were in Portugal. All five played some games in predominately red jerseys and other games in white or blue tops. The researchers used a statistical technique that accounted for different levels of skill in the opposing teams.

The result? When these five teams took the field in red jerseys, they scored one more goal per game then when clad in white or blue.

The scientists are puzzled by exactly what drives this better performance. Further investigation showed that red-shirted soccer players weren't making more accurate passes, even though the human vision system evolved to detect red fruit against a green background.

Opposing teams took fewer shots on the goal of red-shirted teams, were "booked" more frequently by referees for infractions and made more tackles.

If further research finds the same red effect in other sports then governing bodies may have to regulate uniform colours to ensure a level playing field, said Barton.

Barton acknowledged another implication from the findings may be even more pressing.

"We're interested to see how the bookmakers react to these findings. It did occur to us that you might be able to make some money by betting on the colour."

[Scott Ritchie]

Channel 1 just had a thing on this and said red does have an advantage. Don't know if I agree but it is out there.

[Greg Marra]

I think that especially in venues with black backdrops, blue tetras are harder to see.

[the_short1]

Originally Posted by Btower

You and Kevin are correct, the highest seeded alliance is always placed in the red zone by the computer. In fact, its a great communist conspiracy to mold the mind of teenagers into equating Reds with winners. (They tried with baseball but this lost effectiviness decades ago). Interestingly enough, at GLR in the QF's Blue won 50% including the most improbable Alliance 1 vs 8.

taht was the BEST match our team played, honestly it made our team so excited, definately the turning point in that competition, specially wen team 1 fell but was able to get back up it was like.. ahh!!!.. thanks for bringing it up!

thats an interesting artical in the toronto star.. hmm.. that makes sense too.. . haha.. . Detroit Red Wings! ALL THE WAY!! .. i live in ontario but they are my fav team.. now i know why their so good

[evelyn1503]

i dont think it would matter what side your on maby the teams are just haveing a good match

[rocketdawg3000]

At the regionals and at finals our team was put on the blue side and we won most of the time.

[irishninja]

I've also been told that lower team numbers are generally placed on the red alliance. I'm not saying rookie teams are bad, I'm saying that those of us who have been doing it longer have more experience, and hopefully more knowledge.

[Bongle]

Originally Posted by irishninja

I've also been told that lower team numbers are generally placed on the red alliance. I'm not saying rookie teams are bad, I'm saying that those of us who have been doing it longer have more experience, and hopefully more knowledge.

Based on the results from the first 2 weeks of competition, red does not have a statistically significant advantage over blue. Red won 257 games in week two, while blue won 254. The average team number on red was 961, while the average team number on blue was 984. Neither of those differences are significant.

[Dan Richardson]

this thread was for last years game, it was discussing more of the issues with the red and blue tetras some people it was said that red tetras were easier to cap than the blue.

This year, there isn't anything like that really. The balls are all multicolored really and the camera fines green on both sides.

[Katie Reynolds]

Originally Posted by irishninja

I've also been told that lower team numbers are generally placed on the red alliance. I'm not saying rookie teams are bad, I'm saying that those of us who have been doing it longer have more experience, and hopefully more knowledge.

Oh? I've been told that teams are randomly picked by a computer, for each alliance.

[KTorak]

1023 was red all day at practice rounds, and we only played 2 blue matches between Friday and Saturday. I do understand the article that was posted a couple posts up, it does seem to make sense.

[KenWittlief]

For this years game, at the FLR I noticed the lights on the ceiling were different (what you would see facing your teams center goal) from the red side and blue sides of the field.

Dont white lights emit all the colors of the spectrum? I couldnt help wondering if some robots were locking onto the unshaded high intensity lights on the ceiling (at one end of the field)?

If so, then one side would have an advantage this year.

[Joel J]

At the FLR, one side could see the real time score, and the other couldn't..

Not sure who gets the advantage on that one.

[Alex Cormier]

Originally Posted by Joel J.

At the FLR, one side could see the real time score, and the other couldn't..

Not sure who gets the advantage on that one.

that would have been the blue alliance seeing the real time scoring. interesting, i haven't thought of that yet.