Study Shows Referees Rally Toward Red Uniforms
Another strike against the US in their battle against China for the overall medal count in the Olympics: LIVESCIENCE reports that German researchers have concluded that referees seem to favor athletes who have red uniforms. In a related story, the New England Patriots have announced plans to change their uniforms to red jerseys with red pants and red helmets (except for an alternate jersey that is red, but with lettering that is a slightly different shade of red).
The researchers showed a group of tae kwon do referees footage of fights between two opponents of similar skill levels - one wearing blue and one wearing red - and asked them to score the fights. They then later showed them the same fight, but with the uniforms digitally altered so that the colors were reversed. The researchers showed that the bias towards the athletes wearing red was quite noticeable:
