David Brooks has an answer to a question...

...I've been asking myself for a long time now (and anyone else who will listen): Why are sports teams at a disadvantage on the road? Why, especially, would a professional football or basketball team be at a disadvantage? After all, they're professionals, for crying out loud. And it's not like baseball, where each stadium has its own individual dimensions and quirks -- all professional football fields and basketball courts are the same. So what gives, Mr. Brooks? Tell us the answer (my emphasis).

Home teams win more than visiting teams in just about every sport, and the advantage is astoundingly stable over time. So what explains the phenomenon?

It’s not because players perform better when their own fans are cheering them on. In basketball, free-throw percentages are the same home and away. In baseball, a pitcher’s strike-to-ball ratio is the same home and away.

Neither is it the rigors of travel disadvantaging the away team. Teams from the same metro area lose at the same rate as teams from across the country when playing in their rival’s stadium.

No, the real difference is the officiating. The refs and umpires don’t like to get booed. So even if they are not aware of it, they call fewer fouls on home teams in crucial situations. They call more strikes on away batters in tight games in the late innings.

Moskowitz and Wertheim show that the larger, louder and closer a crowd is, the more the refs favor the home team. It’s not a conscious decision. They just naturally conform a bit to the emotional vibes radiating from those around them.

Now that we have that settled, how is it that dogs recognize other dogs as dogs? In other words, how does a Great Dane know that a Chihuahua is another dog and not some animal from an entirely different species?

Tackle that one, Mr. Brooks.