Home

Biography

Sport Science Secrets

My References

Sport Violence References

Links

 

Table of Contents

PREFACE

9
   

I.   

INDIVIDUAL PERFORMANCE  
  Introduction 12
  1    Competition: Not All It's Cracked Up to Be 12
  2    Handicapped by your Birthdate 14
  3    Age and Peak Performance 16
  4    Eye Color and Racial Differences in Performance 18
  5    White Men Can't Jump: Black Men Can't Swim 21
  6    Batting Right versus Batting Left 22
  7    Two Types of Motivation 23
  Summary 26
       

II.   

TEAM PERFORMANCE  
  Introduction 27
  8    The Home Field Advantage 27
  9    The Championship Choke 30
  10     When Praise Hurts 31
  11    When 2 + 2 = 3 32
  12    Who Really Won the Summer Olympics? 34
  Summary 35
       

III.   

SECRET INGREDIENTS OF SUCCESS  
  Introduction 36
  13    Timing is Everything 37
  14    Ice-bergs: Searching for the Best 38
  15    Leaders Who (Don't) Fold Under Pressure 40
  16    Brainpower at the Racetrack 41
  17    Optimism Wins 42
  18    The Winning Edge in Golf 44
  Summary 45
       

IV.   

TIPS ON IMPROVING PERFORMANCE  
  Introduction 46
  19    Golfers' Yips 46
  20    Caffeine and Performance 48
  21    "The Little Engine That Could" 49
  22    Larks and Owls 52
  23    Practice Makes Perfect 54
  Summary 55
       

V.   

THE DECISION MAKERS  
  Introduction 56
  24    Pygmalion on the Balance Beam 57
  25    Judges: A Patriotic Bias? 58
  26    Judges: Favoring Their Own 60
  27    When to Pull the Goalie 62
  28    And the Winner by a Split Decision is——— 63
  29    Pitchers' Reputations and the Strike Zone 64
  30    Out at First... Well, Not Necessarily 65
  31    The View from the Dugout 67
  32    Two Minutes Roughing... Make That Boarding 71
  Summary 72
       

VI.   

MYTHS SURROUNDING SPORTS  
  Introduction 73
  33    Abner Doubleday and Cooperstown 74
  34    Brainstorming: Are Two Heads Better Than One? 75
  35    That Ol' Devil Moon 77
  36    The Mars Effect 78
  37    We All Have our Ups and Downs 79
  38    Hi There!.. What's Your Blood Type? 81
  39    Not Tonight Dear, the Big Game is Tomorrow 83
  Summary 84
       

VII.   

NEAR MYTHS  
  Introduction 85
  40    Sport Widows 85
  41    Pitching Illusions 86
  42    Batting Under Pressure 89
  43    When You're Hot, You're Not 90
  44    Momentum: On a Roll or Not? 93
  45    Icing the Shooter 94
  46    Jockeys, Gender and Dollars 96
  47    NFL Myths 97
  48    Morality on the Links 99
  Summary 100
       

VIII.   

SPORTS HEROES AND RECORDS  
  Introduction 101
  49    Sport Heroes as Agents of Change 103
  50    The O.J. Simpson Verdict 107
  51    What Trading Cards Can Tell Us 109
  52    A Measure of Sport Greatness 110
  53    How Great Thou Art 112
  54    A Record Among Records 113
  55    Pros and Cons 115
  Summary 116
       

IX.   

THE SPORTING ENVIRONMENT  
  Introduction 117
  56    Weather and Baseball 118
  57    Hot Players, Hot Tempers 120
  58    Playing Under the Dome 121
  59    Putting Sports on a Firm Footing 122
  60    Litterbugs and Litterbags 123
  Summary 124
       

X.   

RISKS, HEALTH AND SPORTS  
  Introduction 125
  61    Exercise, Hostility and Life Expectancy 126
  62    Do Right-handers Outlive Southpaws? 129
  63    The Silent Epidemic: Boxing's Dark Side 131
  64    Keeping your Ball on the Fairway 134
  65    Designated Spitters 135
  66    Referees, Umpires and Stress 136
  67    Warmups: A Bit of a Stretch 137
  Summary 138
       

XI.   

MEDIA AND THE BUSINESS OF SPORTS  
  Introduction 139
  68    Sport Preferences on Television 140
  69    Does Televising College Football Hurt Attendance? 141
  70    Predicting College Team Standings 143
  71    Race and Attendance 144
  72    Win One for the Giver 145
  73    Snippets from the Indy 500 146
  74    Sex Sells, How about Violence? 147
  75    Sex, Violence and Videogames 149
  Summary 150
       

XII.   

THE FACE OF VIOLENCE: SOME NEW WRINKLES  
  Introduction 151
  76    Letting Off Steam: Does it Help? 152
  77    An Exception of Sorts 154
  78    A History of Hockey Violence 156
  79    Violence: A Winning or Losing Strategy? 157
  80    Interracial Aggression: Between the Mound and the Plate 158
  81    Some Uniform Results 159
  82    Goons, Enforcers and the Power of Obedience 162
  83    "Why Me.............. Why MEeeeeeeeeeeeeee...?” 164
  84    Boxing, Football and Homicide 165
  85    The Long Arm of Sport Violence    167
  86    Are Athletes More Likely to Rape?    168
  87    Booze and Unruly Fans    170
  Summary    172
       

XIII.   

FANS  
  Introduction    173
  88    As the Team Goes, So Go its Fans    173
  89    Football Weekends on Campus    177
  90    Do Others "Do As I Do?"    178
  91    Queue Counting    179
  92    Seeing is Believing    181
  93    Who is Most Likely to Escalate a Riot?    182
  94    Calming Troubled Waters: The Peacemakers    184
  95    Soccer and Politics: Latin American Bedfellows    186
  96    Hooliganism in Black Africa    188
  Summary    190
       

XIV.   

TWISTS AND TURNS OF SOCIAL COGNITIONS  
  Introduction    191
  97    Being Happier With Less    192
  98    Are We Primed for Violence?    194
  99    The Law of Small Numbers    195
  100    Thoughts of a Racetrack Bettor    196
  101    Cause and Effect: What Really Causes What?    197
  102    The Sophomore Jinx    199
  103    Mind Games: Sandbagging and Self-handicapping    201
  Summary    202
       

REFERENCES

   204

Top

About Sport Science Secrets | Table of Contents | Sample Chapters

 

Page last modified October 17, 2007
Sport Science Secrets Sport Science Secrets Sport Science Secrets Sport Science Secrets Sport Science Secrets Sport Science Secrets Sport Science Secrets Sport Science Secrets Sport Science Secrets Sport Science Secrets