Game Day Research Articles

Perceived Daily Wellness Responses Following Games During A Professional American Football Season

PURPOSE: The purpose of this study was to investigate the perceptual wellness responses and time course of recovery following an American football game and if those responses vary across a professional American football season. METHODS: Twenty-four male, American football players (25.9 ± 2.7 y) were recruited to complete a standardized daily wellness survey the day before each game (GD-1), game day (GD) and each day following game day (GD+1, GD+2, GD+3, GD+4, and GD+5) during the seven week season. The surveys were obtained each morning via automated text messages to assess perceptions of energy, motivation, stress, and soreness utilizing 10-point Likert scales. A composite daily wellness score (DWS) was created where a higher score indicated better overall wellness. Eight players met the minimum survey response rate set at 70% and were therefore included in the study. All variables were used to determine the time course of perceptual recovery following a game, as well as cumulative recovery across the season. A mixed-effects model was used to measure changes in all markers including the DWS. RESULTS: There were no significant interactions for day x week (p > 0.05) across the season for the DWS or individual wellness markers. DWS was significantly higher on GD-1 (28.4 ± 6.1; p < 0.01) than GD+1, +2, +4, +5 (23.0 ± 6.0; 25.5 ± 6.3; 26.3 ± 6.2; 27.0 ± 6.1, respectively), but lower than GD (31.5 ± 4.1) and similar to GD+3 (26.8 ± 5.5; p > 0.05). Perceived energy was significantly lower on GD+1, +3, +4 (5.6 ± 1.9; 5.9 ± 1.9; 5.9 ± 2.1, respectively) compared to GD-1 (6.9 ± 2.1; p < 0.05). Perceived motivation was significantly higher on GD (8.5 ± 1.6) compared to GD-1 (7.2 ± 1.9; p < 0.05), but then declined on GD+1 (5.3 ± 2.4) and GD+2 (5.7 ± 2.3). Perceived muscle soreness was the lowest on GD (1.9 ± SD) and significantly higher the days following (GD+1: 5.4 ± 2.1; GD +2: 4.1 ± 2.2; GD+4 3.8 ± 1.8; and GD +5: 3.8 ± 1.9) compared to GD-1 (3.0 ± 1.6; p < 0.05). There was no daily effect on perceived stress (p > 0.05). CONCLUSIONS: Perceptual wellness markers are negatively impacted immediately after and days following a professional football game, and those affects remained consistent across the season. The DWS and individual markers of perceptual wellness may take up to 5 days to return to pregame levels and should be considered when planning player training.

Tracking Athlete Wellness And Its Relationship With Activities During A Season In Female Soccer Players

Performance analysis creates a foundation for performance staff to display findings to coaches and aid in understanding how training loads impact the wellness of each player. Applying an appropriate training load and allowing sufficient recovery will improve an athlete’s performance, while reducing the risk of overtraining, injury, and illness. Monitoring individual load and recovery is a critical part of this process and not solely dependent on physical observations. Overtraining can manifest in an array of symptoms that also includes changes in mood, sleep disturbances, stress, and more generalized fatigue. PURPOSE: To examine the effects of different activities during a season on daily wellness dimensions. METHODS: 25 female soccer players (21±2y) completed daily morning self-administered questionnaires consisting of 5 dimensions of wellness (i.e. fatigue, sleep, muscle soreness, stress, and mood) on a 0 (feeling the worst) - 100 (feeling the best) scale on their computers or mobile devices. Activity on the previous day (i.e. off-day, game, practice, or double practice) was used as an independent variable in assessing wellness scores. RESULTS: Type of day did not have a significant effect on fatigue (p=0.842), sleep (p=0.395), or mood (p=0.499). Post hoc analyses revealed self-reported muscle soreness to be significantly worse (p=0.029) after game days (n=8) than off-days (n=19) (difference score = 12) and self-reported stress to be significantly worse (p=0.049) after practice days (n=11) than after off-days (n=19) (difference score = 7). In all dimensions, there was a trend for positive self-reports to be best after off-days and worst after days of double practice. CONCLUSION: This study provides evidence that a quick self-administered questionnaire can provide important information about an athlete’s wellness. Moreover, off-days (i.e. no activity) are important parts of programming as they generally positively affect the physical and mental health recovery of athletes. Nonetheless, adherence to survey completion declined and value assigned to activities changed throughout the season. As such, future research is needed to further the understanding of how athlete wellness is impacted by and can impact performance during activities across a competitive athletic season.

Subjective Well-Being Outcomes Before, During, And After In-Season Competitive Soccer Matches

Subjective well-being is related to injury in soccer athletes, but little is known about how these variables change around a single athletic competition. Continued athletic participation combined with negative well-being may lead to tissue overload and subsequent injury. PURPOSE: The purpose of this study was to identify the differences in daily well-being measures before, during and after the day of each match. METHODS: Thirty female soccer (age: 19.8 ±,1.1 years, height: 1.6 ± 0.05 m, mass: 64.9 ± 6.6 kg) players provided daily measures of readiness, physical fatigue, mental stress, and soreness intensity over the course of a competitive season. Subjective well-being was taken on standard practice days (P), game days (D0), and on days one (D1) two (D2) following games. One-way within subject analysis of variance was used to compare the subjective well-being variables between each time point. Post-hoc analysis was performed with a Bonferroni adjustments. RESULTS: A significant main effect was present for readiness (F=52.96, P<0.01). Post-hoc testing revealed readiness on D1(68.5 ±12.4) was significantly more negative than readiness on P (77.9 ± 8.0, p<0.01), D0 (83.4, 8.9, p<0.01), and D2 (77.1 ± 8.8, P<0.01). A significant main effect was present for fatigue (F=41.8, p<0.01). Post-hoc testing revealed fatigue on D1 (0.5 ± 1.6) was significantly more negative than fatigue on P (1.7 ± 1.4, P=0.01), D0 (2.3 ± 1.4, p<0.01), and D2 (1.7 ± 1.5, p=0.01). A significant main effect was present for stress (F=3.8, p=0.01) and soreness (F=15.1, p=0.01), but after accounting for multiple comparisons, there was no differences between times. CONCLUSIONS: Self-reported readiness to train and physical fatigue are decreased for a full day following competitive soccer competition. Coaches, strength coaches, and athletic trainers may use this information to tailor training programs to promote recovery and limit injury risk, as previous literature indicates that negative outcomes on subjective scales may be indicative of injury. Future research should incorporate training load assessments into this analysis to understand if these changes are correlated to the frequency, intensity, or volume of soccer training and participation.

Comparison Of Energy Expenditure Observed Between Scheduled Activities In Female Collegiate Basketball And Lacrosse Athletes

Specific energy needs of team-sport female athletes have been understudied, particularly with regard to scheduled daily activities. PURPOSE: To examine the difference between energy expenditure changes in NCAA Div II female basketball (BBALL) and lacrosse (LAX) athletes depending on scheduled team activities. METHODS: All athletes (BBALL: n=10; 19.8±1.3 yrs, 173.9±13.6 cm, 74.6±9.1 kg, 27.1±3.2 % fat; LAX: n=20; 20.4±1.8 yrs, 168.4±6.6 cm, 68.8±8.9 kg, 27.9±3% fat) were outfitted with heart rate and activity monitors during four consecutive days on five different occasions (20 days total) across their competitive seasons to assess differences in activity energy expenditure (AEE), total daily energy expenditure (TDEE) and physical activity level (PAL). Data collected was categorized by type of scheduled daily activities: Practice, Game, Conditioning or Off. All dependent variables were analyzed using a mixed factorial ANOVA with paired sample T-Tests as post-hocs when necessary. RESULTS: All results are outlined below in Table 1. Independent of day type, TDEE, AEE, and PAL levels were greater (p<0.05) in LAX athletes. Changes between day types for each sport were significantly different (p<0.05) for TDEE, AEE, and PAL. CONCLUSION: Calculated levels for TDEE, AEE, and PAL in female collegiate BBALL and LAX athletes were determined to all be different, irrespective of the scheduled daily activity. LAX athletes, regardless of scheduled activities, had greater TDEE, AEE, and PAL compared to BBALL athletes. Caloric expenditure in female collegiate athletes varies significantly depending on scheduled team activities with energy needs progressively increasing between Off, Conditioning, Practice, and Games.Table 1: TDEE, AEE, and PAL, in practice, game, conditioning, off, and combined days, in female collegiate BBALL and LAX athletes.† Significantly different between sports (p<0.05); Different letters denote statistical differences between days.

When sponsorship causes anger: understanding negative fan reactions to postings on sports clubs’ online social media channels

ABSTRACT Research question: Fans’ perception that sponsors are a financial need illustrating the increased commercialisation in sports is not always aligned with their view of a club’s culture. This perceived imbalance represents a challenge in the online marketing strategies of sports clubs. When club managers decide on the content of online social media posts/messages related to sponsors, they should be aware of potential fan reactions. Therefore, this study analyses how sponsor-related and other online social media communication of football clubs affect fan reactions. Research methods: We analyse Facebook postings (N = 4,603) published by German first division football clubs. After classifying postings regarding their content, we regress ‘Reactions’, ‘Shares’, and ‘Angry’ reactions on the content variable and further covariates. Linear regression models, Poisson regression models, and general dominance statistics are used for exploring variance within the data. Results and Findings: Fans react considerably angrier to sponsor-related posts than to other content except for defeat-related postings. Regarding overall reactions and shares, sponsor-related posts perform worst among different contents. In addition, the content of posts is elementary to negative reactions, but of less importance to overall reaction rates. Implications: Sports managers and sponsors should be aware of the potential negative shift in reactions when using clubs’ social media channels to share sponsor-related content. We recommend releasing sponsor-related posts as videos on game days to decrease the fraction of negative responses and simultaneously maximise the overall reactions.

Training Load and Carbohydrate Periodization Practices of Elite Male Australian Football Players: Evidence of Fueling for the Work Required.

The authors aimed to quantify (a)the periodization of physical loading and daily carbohydrate (CHO) intake across an in-season weekly microcycle of Australian Football and (b)the quantity and source of CHO consumed during game play and training. Physical loading (via global positioning system technology) and daily CHO intake (via a combination of 24-hr recall, food diaries, and remote food photographic method) were assessed in 42 professional male players during two weekly microcycles comprising a home and away fixture. The players also reported the source and quantity of CHO consumed during all games (n = 22 games) and on the training session completed 4 days before each game (n = 22 sessions). The total distance was greater (p < .05) on game day (GD; 13km) versus all training days. The total distance differed between training days, where GD-2 (8km) was higher than GD-1, GD-3, and GD-4 (3.5, 0, and 7km, respectively). The daily CHO intake was also different between training days, with reported intakes of 1.8, 1.4, 2.5, and 4.5g/kg body mass on GD-4, GD-3, GD-2, and GD-1, respectively. The CHO intake was greater (p < .05) during games (59 ± 19g) compared with training (1 ± 1g), where in the former, 75% of the CHO consumed was from fluids as opposed to gels. Although the data suggest that Australian Football players practice elements of CHO periodization, the low absolute CHO intakes likely represent considerable underreporting in this population. Even when accounting for potential underreporting, the data also suggest Australian Football players underconsume CHO in relation to the physical demands of training and competition.

Dietary Intake of Gaelic Football Players during Game Preparation and Recovery.

It is well established that dietary intake can influence performance and modulate recovery in field-based invasion team sports such as soccer and rugby. However, very limited research currently exists examining dietary intake of Gaelic football players. This research aimed to examine the dietary intake of Gaelic football players 2 days prior to competition, on game day, and for 2 days post-competition. A five-day paper-based food diary was completed by 45 players (25 elite and 20 sub-elite). Preliminary inspection of diaries eliminated 11 participants, and analysis of Goldberg cut-offs identified 1 player as an under-reporter, leaving 33 players in the final analysis. Playing level had no effect on energy, carbohydrate, or fat intake. Average intake of energy was 2938 ± 618 kcal.day−1, carbohydrate was 3.7 ± 1.42 g.kgbm−1.day−1, and fat was 1.34 ± 0.61 g.kgbm−1.day−1. However, elite players consumed 24.1% more protein than sub-elite players (2.2 ± 0.67 vs. 1.8 ± 0.62 g.kgbm−1.day−1). Regardless of playing level, players consumed inadequate amounts of carbohydrate to support optimal performance and recovery and consumed protein and fat in line with general sport nutrition guidelines. Given the unique demands placed on Gaelic football players, it may be necessary to develop nutrition guidelines specific to Gaelic football. Additionally, the design and implementation of Gaelic football-specific education-based interventions may be necessary to address the highlighted nutritional inadequacies.

Australian female athlete perceptions of the challenges associated with training and competing when menstrual symptoms are present

Coaches consider various competencies (e.g. conditioning, nutrition, skills and tactics), when planning sessions, though rarely the impact of menstruation on the efficacy of training and competition performance for athletes. Given the impact menstrual symptoms can have on athletes, the management strategies that athletes may use to minimise any potential impact, and the mechanisms that provide barriers to greater coach athlete interaction require investigation and consideration. Therefore, this study aimed to investigate the strategies used by athletes to manage menstrual symptoms and the role coaches played in this process. An anonymous, 36-item questionnaire was developed and hosted on Qualtrics. Descriptive statistics and Chi-square statistics were used to analyse the data. One hundred and twenty-four valid responses from Australian athletes 16–45, with a mean age of 29 years, were received. Period pain (82%) and pre-menstrual symptoms (83%) were commonly reported and contributed to fatigue and to perceived reductions in performance during or just prior to the period (50.0% in training, 58.7% on ‘game day’). Contraceptive use was reported by 42% of athletes. Those reporting heavy menstrual bleeding (29.7%) were more likely to report increased fatigue (relative risk 1.6, 95% CI 1.07 to 2.32). Over three-quarters of athletes reported neither they nor their coaches altered training due to the menstrual cycle. Most athletes (76%) did not discuss menstruation with their coaches. Given the perceived negative impact on performance and potential risks with contraceptive usage during adolescence, coaches, trainers and athletes need to have a more open dialogue around the menstrual cycle.

Associations of cardiovascular disease morbidity and mortality in the populations watching major football tournaments: A systematic review and meta-analysis of observational studies.

Whether or not increased hospitalizations and/or deaths due to cardiovascular disease during major football tournaments (MFTs) remains controversial. We undertook a systematic review and meta-analysis of published studies to assess the relationships of cardiovascular events and MFTs. Observational studies reporting relationship of cardiovascular disease morbidity and mortality with MFTs during the days of games or within 2 weeks after game season were included. Relative risk ratios (RR) with 95% confidence interval (CI) were pooled and analyzed using a random/fixed-effects model. Nineteen cross-sectional observational studies that examined the association between MFTs and non-fetal cardiovascular events and mortality were found to be eligible from 3419 references, for inclusion in the systematic review and meta-analysis. Of the 10 studies reported hospitalizations due to non-fetal acute cardiovascular events, the pooled RR was 1.17 (95% CI 1.01-1.36). Of the 10 studies reported cardiovascular mortality the pooled RR was 1.03 (95% CI 1.00-1.05). Of the studies examining the mortality, 6 studies reported the lost or win of the national team. Pooling of four studies where their national teams lost the MFTs produced a RR for the mortality of 1.19 (95% CI: 1.09-1.30), and 4 studies of the 6 whose national teams won produced a pooled RR for cardiovascular mortality of 0.88 (0.79-0.98). This systematic review and meta-analysis showed an increased risk of hospitalization due to non-fetal acute cardiovascular events and cardiovascular mortality with watching MFTs.

Simulation in Neonatal Resuscitation.

Approximately 1 in 10 newborns will require basic resuscitation interventions at birth. Some infants progress to require more advanced measures including the provision of positive pressure ventilation, chest compressions, intubation and administration of volume/cardiac medications. Although advanced resuscitation is infrequent, it is crucial that personnel adequately trained in these techniques are available to provide such resuscitative measures. In 2000, Louis Halmalek et al. called for a “New Paradigm in Pediatric Medical Education: Teaching Neonatal Resuscitation in a Simulated Delivery Room Environment.” This was one of the first articles to highlight simulation as a method of teaching newborn resuscitation. The last decades have seen an exponential growth in the area of simulation in newborn care, in particular in newborn resuscitation and stabilization. Simulation is best defined as an instructional strategy “used to replace or amplify real experiences with guided experiences that evoke or replicate substantial aspects of the real world in a fully interactive manner.” Simulation training has now become an important point of how we structure training and deliver improved healthcare to patients. Some of the key aspects of simulation training include feedback, deliberate practice, outcome measurement, retention of skills and curriculum integration. The term “Train to win” is often used in sporting parlance to define how great teams succeed. The major difference between sports teams is that generally their game day comes once a week, whereas in newborn resuscitation every day is potentially “game day.” In this review we aim to summarize the current evidence on the use of simulation based education and training in neonatal resuscitation, with particular emphasis on the evidence supporting its effectiveness. We will also highlight recent advances in the development of simulation based medical education in the context of newborn resuscitation to ensure we “train to win.”

A Problem Old as Pong: Video Game Cloning and the Proper Bounds of Video Game Copyrights

From the earliest days of video games, unscrupulous copycats ripped off the games of others, and the courts struggled to define the boundaries of copyright law as pertains to video games. As technology advances, small independent games are on the rise again, but so are copycats. Courts have had about 30 years to apply the body of copyright law to the medium of video games. However, recent litigation, especially Tetris Holding, LLC v. Xio Interactive, Inc., has sought to jettison some important aspects of copyright law as applied to game-play mechanics. This article analyzes the history of the idea/expression dichotomy as applied to video games and suggests ways that future courts can better draw the boundaries of copyright protection.

Spatial crime distribution and prediction for sporting events using social media

ABSTRACT Sporting events attract high volumes of people, which in turn leads to increased use of social media. In addition, research shows that sporting events may trigger violent behavior that can lead to crime. This study analyses the spatial relationships between crime occurrences, demographic, socio-economic and environmental variables, together with geo-located Twitter messages and their ‘violent’ subsets. The analysis compares basketball and hockey game days and non-game days. Moreover, this research aims to analyze crime prediction models using historical crime data as a basis and then introducing tweets and additional variables in their role as covariates of crime. First, this study investigates the spatial distribution of and correlation between crime and tweets during the same temporal periods. Feature selection models are applied in order to identify the best explanatory variables. Then, we apply localized kernel density estimation model for crime prediction during basketball and hockey games, and on non-game days. Findings from this study show that Twitter data, and a subset of violent tweets, are useful in building prediction models for the seven investigated crime types for home and away sporting events, and non-game days, with different levels of improvement.

Sobering Up After the Seventh Inning: Alcohol and Crime Around the Ballpark

Objectives: This study examines the impact of alcohol consumption in a Major League Baseball (MLB) stadium on area level counts of crime. The modal practice at MLB stadiums is to stop selling alcoholic beverages after the seventh inning. Baseball is not a timed game, so the duration between end of the seventh inning (last call for alcohol) and the end of the game varies considerably, providing a unique natural experiment that allows us to estimate the relationship between alcohol consumption and crime near a stadium on game days to non-game days and to areas around sports bars that fans also frequent but are not subject to alcohol restrictions after the seventh inning. Methods: Crime data were obtained from Philadelphia for the period 2006-2015 and geocoded to the area around the MLB stadium as well as popular sports bars. We rely on difference-in-differences regression models to estimate the change in crime on home game days around the stadium as the game time extends into extra innings to other areas of the city and around sports bars in Philadelphia relative to days when the baseball team plays away from home. Results: We found that when there are extra innings and more game-time after the seventh inning alcohol sales stoppage crime declines significantly around the stadium. The effects are largely driven by a reduction in assaults. The crime reduction benefit of the last call alcohol policy is undone when a complex of sports bars opens in the stadium parking lot in 2012. The results suggest that alcohol consumption during baseball games is a contributor to crime. Conclusions: The findings provide further support for environmental theories of crime that note the congregation of people in places with excessive alcohol consumption is a generator of violent crime in cities. The consumption of alcohol in MLB stadiums appears to increase opportunities for people to get swept up into fights.

The Raid

They drink like frat boys on spring break, like frat boys on game day. They drink like frat boys in the movies. But they are not frat boys, not yet, and it’s a Monday night three weeks into their first semester. Each drink builds unity, helps them forget the hazing at dinner. They drink to think of something daring to shock the brotherhood—a pledge class raid to show they will do anything to be Theta Mus, that they are united as a pledge class, committed and crazy. […]

A field study on marching band members' workload assessment.

Marching band activities consist of both physically and cognitively demanding tasks. The demands that this activity has on players has largely been unstudied. The goal of this study was to investigate the effects of players' experience level, role, and gender on the workload of marching band players via a field study. Surveys were issued during one game day to the Oregon State University Marching Band (OSUMB) in the fall of 2017. Increments of discomfort ratings and workload ratings were gathered. The three independent variables were experience level (novice or experienced), role (leader or non-leader), and gender. Novice players had a higher discomfort for their left hand and a higher level of cognitive demand as opposed to experienced players. Leaders had a higher increment of discomfort in their neck and upper back, and higher workload ratings in their performance workload and overall weighted workload than the non-leaders. Gender had no effect on increment of discomfort and workload, but some trends were noted. This study indicates that players' role and experience, but not gender, can influence their workloads and discomfort.

On Alleys, and: On Error, and: On Theoretical Reconstructions of Imaginary Objects Using Genuine Parts

On Alleys, and: On Error, and: On Theoretical Reconstructions of Imaginary Objects Using Genuine Parts Kathryn Nuernberger (bio) On Alleys Weeding cuticle deep in the loose soil mounded around the zinnia roots at the community farm and my hands tingle with the breathing of all these transplanted bacteria, protists, fungi, and archaea grafted to the packed clay of land that carried a convent on its back and an open-pit gravel mine in its belly for six decades. ________ I might not feel it so much, this ecstasy of a microbiome, if I weren't trying not to miss the place I came from, where I loved the elder and wild carrot, [End Page 41] yarrow and goosefoot and did not know how to live anymore either with the flags my neighbors loved to fly over their soybean acres. ________ How much of her microbiome does the bobtail squid feel when the bioluminescent garden of the bacteria Vibrio fischeri is so bright in that organ behind her eye? Is it suffering or elation to spume 95 percent of them into the open water, where they will mostly die but some drift into the bodies of younger and more empty squid who sense they need something but don't yet know what it will feel like to be answered with a city of light? ________ It was such a moonlit beam of blue flashing across my kitchen window that night, before we knew what had happened. It looked like we were all living together at the bottom of the ocean. ________ When morning came I picked up a bouquet of those zinnias. As I passed through our alley, over the debris of yellow police tape, my neighbor was taking out the trash with a gun holstered to his chest. Packing has never been his way before, he who opens his garage with its flat-screen and homemade bar to the whole neighborhood on game days and also fills the block with the smell of deep-fried tacos for three dollars every Friday. I gave him the bouquet and it was frail and pretty beside his revolver. ________ He must have been so afraid. He must have had no idea what to do. The back doors of our houses look at each other all day long, but I didn't hear a single one of the four shots, each aimed at his brother-in-law, but grazing without apology anyone in the way. He is pissed at his brother, calls him an idiot for what he is mixed up in, but thank God that fool is still alive and everyone else is too. ________ The squid use the light to blend in with the moon shining on the water, or they shut the lid and disappear completely into the depths. They can reflect and refract and direct their light in all directions. But, like any living being, they have to learn how to do this and they may not always know precisely the most perfect way to cast that glow. If they make a mistake, they die of it, or of bad luck, or they die just of having lived so long they didn't already. [End Page 42] On Error Beyond the stained-glass glow of the library's windowed wall was a garden of medicinal plants. Purple bells of foxglove and yellow buttons of calendula flourished among the leafy blankets of chamomile and sage. For a summer I worked at the mahogany table where the man who invented the pacemaker once took tea. My fellowship was for researching quack medicine, particularly as it related to matters of electricity and the heart, but on the first day I was scolded [End Page 43] for using the word quack. One curator said it was a judgmental pejorative that misunderstood how important unproved theories are to the development of knowledge. Other fellows objected on similar grounds to pseudoscience, dead ends, mistakes, and folk. It became hard for me to say, when asked, what exactly I came to that place to learn. ________ Fortunately, there were many distractions in the archives. I followed a little question about luminescent aether into the whole history of...

Evaluation of Manual Traffic Control in Directing Traffic Operations for Major Special Events: Clemson University Football Game Day Experience

Crowd ingress and egress occurring before and after large special events results in oversaturation of the traffic network and is a crucial issue event planners and transportation officials must address. Because intersections constitute the greatest restraint in network traffic flows, efficient operation during special event peak flows is crucial. This research focuses on evaluating how well traffic control officers optimize intersection operations during heavily oversaturated conditions associated with large-scale special events. Network traffic data, including volumes, queues, and traffic officer signal/right-of-way phase times, were collected before and after four Clemson University home football games during the 2014 and 2015 season. Actual traffic count volumes were adjusted to account for vehicle queues and used to develop optimal signal timings using Synchro. These results are compared to field-observed intersection operation using officer directed hand-signaling and officer traffic signal pushbutton operation. A microscopic VISSIM model was also created for both manual control and optimized control scenarios to determine average delays for each approach and to improve the interpretation of macroscopic Synchro results. Findings indicate that traffic officers perform well in near saturated conditions; however, optimized signal timings provide reduced approach delay and overall intersection delay in heavily oversaturated conditions. The paper includes recommendations on how traffic officers can improve intersection performance. The paper also describes how results from data collection, analysis, and simulation modeling have been used to make recommendations to law enforcement in evaluating traffic operations and identifying improvements. Intersection control is crucial to the implementation of the overall traffic management plan, and the research findings provide insight to the effectiveness of law enforcement control of intersection operations.

Are Fair Weather Fans Affected by Weather? Rainfall, Habit Formation, and Live Game Attendance

We analyze habit formation in sports attendance utilizing rainfall as an unexpected, transitory shock to attendance costs. Using attendance data from Major League Baseball (MLB) and National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration weather data, we analyze the impact of variation in game day weather conditions on current and future MLB attendance. The empirical strategy permits identification of both the formation and persistence of habit from exogenous weather shocks. Past adverse weather shocks increase future attendance by about 200 fans per game. This contributes to the literature developing empirical evidence of habit formation in the field and provides policy implications for optimal ticket-pricing strategies.

Daily Changes of Resting Metabolic Rate in Elite Rugby Union Players

Preparation for competitive contact sport has been extensively researched. There are, however, limited data to guide players as to how the demands of their sport affect the energy requirements of recovery. We aimed to provide novel data on changes in resting metabolic rate (RMR) in contact sport athletes and relate these to the physical demands of training and competition. Twenty-two elite professional Premiership Rugby Union players were recruited to the study. Indirect calorimetry (Vyntus CPX canopy; CareFusion) was used to measure RMR each morning of the competitive game week, in a fasted, rested state. External loads for training and game play were monitored and recorded using global positioning systems (Catapult Innovations, Australia), whereas internal loads were tracked using rate of perceived exertion scales. Collisions were reviewed and recorded by expert video analysts for contacts in general play (breakdown and tackle area) or the set piece (scrum or maul). There were significant (P = 0.005) mean increases in RMR of approximately 231 kcal the morning after (game day [GD] + 1) and 3 d after the game (GD + 3), compared with the day before the game (GD - 1). The players were exposed to internal and external loads during the training week comparable to that of a match day; however, despite the equivocal loads between training and game play, there were no significant increases in RMR after training. The collisions experienced in rugby match play are likely to be responsible for the significant increases in RMR at GD + 1 and GD + 3. Consequently, the measurement of RMR via indirect calorimetry may provide a novel noninvasive measure of the effects of collisions. This study provides a novel insight to the energy requirements of recovering from contact sport.

Choking under pressure – Evidence of the causal effect of audience size on performance

We analyze performance under pressure and estimate the causal effect of audience size on the success of free throws in top-level professional basketball. We use data from the National Basketball Association (NBA) for the seasons 2007/08 through 2015/16. We exploit the exogenous variation in weather conditions on game day to establish a causal link between attendance size and performance. Our results confirm a sizeable and strong negative effect of the number of spectators on performance. Home teams in (non-critical) situations at the beginning of games perform worse when the audience is larger. This result is consistent with the theory of a home choke rather than a home field advantage. Our results have potentially large implications for general questions of workplace design and help to further understand how the social environment affects performance. We demonstrate that positive feedback from a friendly audience does affect performance negatively.