This post originated from an RSS feed registered with Agile Buzz
by James Robertson.
Original Post: Yankees vs. Red Sox - psychology in action
Feed Title: Cincom Smalltalk Blog - Smalltalk with Rants
Feed URL: http://www.cincomsmalltalk.com/rssBlog/rssBlogView.xml
Feed Description: James Robertson comments on Cincom Smalltalk, the Smalltalk development community, and IT trends and issues in general.
The game played between the Yankees and the Red sox last night pretty much sums up the last 80 some odd years of such play. Here's how the NY Times (registration required) put it: Yanks Give Red Sox Fans Another Reason to Feel Cursed. Then there's the Boston Globe: Their best simply wasn't good enough. It's almost like watching a Wiley Coyote vs. Roadrunner cartoon - it's entertaining, and the coyote always has something interesting up his sleeve - but in the end, you know who's going to win.
I saw this again the other day on ESPN Classic - they play games from years ago, and they had a 1996 playoff game on. I caught it somewhere in the middle - the game was at Yankee Stadium, the Sox were ahead. I remembered watching the game back then, but I noticed something else this time around. The camera would pan the Yankee dugout - and the entire team had this look of confidence, even though they were behind. The camera would pan the Sox bench - and they all looked tense, clenched up - as if they knew something was going to happen. Sure enough, this was one of those games where a series of misplays by the Sox in the late game lost it
Watching these teams play is an interesting psychological exercise at this point. The Red Sox clearly have talent - but they always blow it in the end, even when the Yankees aren't involved (think Bill Buckner, game 6 of the 1986 World Series - my Dad, a die hard Sox fan, just about destroyed the tv after that). At this point (the last time the Red Sox won a World Series was 1917!), the Sox may as well have the curse of the Bambino on them - they play as if they do. The weight of losses and late game/late season screw ups (1978, anyone?) is an always increasing mental load on the team - they way I figure it, the pressure to overcome the "curse" makes epic failures more likely, as the team constantly tries too hard. Don't believe that? Next time the two teams are involved in a close game, watch the benches of both sides - see for yourself which one looks calm and collected, and which one looks tense and uptight.
Previous Topic
