Scorecasting

Mr. Y and I just read the book Scorecasting: The Hidden Influences Behind How Sports are Played and Games are Won.  It's an interesting mix of Freakonomics and sports, and also similar to the books written by Malcolm Gladwell, such as Outliers or Blink.  Scorecasting basically looks at various sports-related situations and applied economic analysis to them.  It's written by a couple of childhood friends, Tobias J. Moskowitz, a Professor of Finance at the University of Chicago and L. Jon Wertheim, senior writer for Sports Illustrated.  

The book is pretty interesting, and it debunks some of the common myths surrounding sports.  One of the most interesting discussions is about home field advantage.  I, like many other fans, tend to believe that we have a great effect on the players.  It turns out that although there is a quantifiable home field advantage, it's not due to the fans, the stadiums, the climates, or the schedules, but due to referee bias.  The data shows that referees are more inclined to be biased towards the home team because of crowd support or displeasure.  The bias is most likely unconscious, but it does account for most of the home field advantage in every sport they investigated, including basketball, soccer, football, and baseball.  So next time you're watching a sports game, direct your screaming to the refs, not the players.  :)