A local team wins big? Pull over!
Fans tip over vehicles early Sunday, Nov. 24, 2002, in Columbus after Ohio State's Buckeyes defeated Michigan 14-9 to complete an unbeaten regular football season Credit: AP
Many fans live and die with their favorite teams. What's unnerving, according to some new research, is how much truth there is in this old saw.
Researchers at the University of South Carolina and North Carolina State studied 271 football and basketball games, professional and collegiate, played from 2001 to 2008. These were big games -- playoffs and the like. The outcomes were compared with data on road deaths.
The result? Game-day traffic fatalities went up in places with a lot of fans of the winning team -- and the closer the game, the more people died. But there was no increase in fatalities in the hometowns of losing teams.
How big was the difference? "Going from a blowout to a nail-biter," the researchers wrote, "increases observed fatalities by 133 percent." In other words, a close game is about as dangerous as not having seat-belt laws.
Apparently alcohol plays a role, as does testosterone, which is known to rise sharply in fans of both sexes when their team wins as well as drop sharply after a loss.
There's no proof fans were the ones in those extra fatal accidents, but apparently they did make the whole community more dangerous for a day. Then again, fans who follow winners can take solace from other research showing that heart-related deaths fall when the local team triumphs and rise when it loses.
So by all means root for a winner. But whether you root or not, try to stay off the roads after a close victory.
