Power play

For some odd reason, my taste is reading lately has steered toward books dealing with social science research. And so it was with great interest on my way home from jogging with the boys this morning that I listened to a fascinating story on NPR’s Morning Edition about a study done on penalties in the NHL.

I will preface this by saying I know almost nothing about the NHL anymore. I was into hockey – sort of -- back when the Rangers won their Cup back in 1994, and back when I traveled on a more regular basis with Coach Emeritus Phil Kelly – Phil is an avid hockey fan and former player. And then there is current team member Billy Hild, who is sporting an absolute hideous “playoff beard” in honor of his beloved Rangers (side note: I am the resident expert on hideous beards …).

Anyway, this study, done over the past decade, posits that players who wear darker jerseys in the NHL get penalized and sent to the penalty box with far more frequency than players wearing white jerseys. The difference was something like 20 percent – statistically significant in a major way.

Making this study even more scientifically grounded was the fact that, about 8 years ago, the NHL changed the format of which team wears which color uniform. I’m probably going to screw this up, but I think now the home team wears the dark-colored jerseys while the road team wears the white. Before 2004, it was the opposite.

This made the empirical nature of the data even more concrete. The study found that teams that wear black jerseys get penalized with the greatest frequency. The study just laid out the facts. The “whys” were not really explored but some hypotheses were made. One theory had to do with “cognitive bias” against dark colors and in favor of light colors, patterns that are deeply ingrained in our psyche.

Who knows? I thought it was fascinating, and it made me think that I am glad our sport does not have a “penalty box” or situations where “cognitive bias” comes into play. Lastly, for all of those pining for the long-lost days of the black Marist singlets … maybe this is a good reason not to go back to the future (or black to the future?). We don’t need our relay zone handoffs more closely scrutinized because of the color of our shirts.

Go Rangers.