Re: Yahoo! News Story - Hidden Cost of Baseball Fever: Edgy, Weary Workers
- From: Luis Villa <louie ximian com>
- To: boston-social gnome org
- Subject: Re: Yahoo! News Story - Hidden Cost of Baseball Fever: Edgy, Weary Workers
- Date: Fri, 22 Oct 2004 15:23:43 -0400
[Totally OT ;)
There are also creepy similarities to being in a cult or a single-party
state. Compare and contrast video of any championship parade with
'Triumph of the Will', or listen to Moonies and Sox fans talk about this
creepy 'us' entity, or the creeping superstitions we all have about
games. Some day you can get me drunk and I can discourse about it at
length...
Luis (who refers to 'us' all the time and has engaged in all kinds of
bizarre rituals in the name of various gods of the Blue and Red
persuasions...)
On Fri, 2004-10-22 at 14:53 -0400, Yahoo!News wrote:
> ^-^ (cheridy jolliefamily com) has sent you a news article. (Email
> address has not been verified.)
>
> Personal message:
>
> David Barlow, director of the Center for Stress and Anxiety Disorders
> at Boston University, said being a Red Sox fan has similarities to
> being in an abusive relationship -- and that becomes more pronounced
> during the playoffs.
>
> You get beaten down, battered down, slapped around, then all of a
> sudden you get picked up, he said.
>
>
>
> Hidden Cost of Baseball Fever: Edgy, Weary Workers
> http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?
> tmpl=story&u=/nm/20041021/od_nm/life_baseball_dc
>
>
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> Reuters
> Hidden
> Cost of
> Baseball Fever: Edgy, Weary Workers
>
> Thu
> Oct
> 21,11:46 AM ET
> Add to My Yahoo!
> Oddly Enough - Reuters
>
> By Greg
> Frost
>
> BOSTON
> (Reuters) - An epic Red Sox-Yankees baseball showdown may be denting worker productivity as bleary-eyed fans call in sick, show up late to work or linger too long around the water cooler dissecting every play, experts said on Wednesday.
>
>
>
>
> Anecdotal evidence suggests that after more than a week of nail-biting, marathon playoff action between two of the most bitter rivals in all of professional sports, millions of Boston Red Sox and New York Yankees fans may be weary and unable to focus on their jobs, relationships -- or even their families.
>
> In
> Boston
> and New
> York,
> employees have openly admitted to arriving late or missing work over the last few days because of games that set length records. Employers, meanwhile, have noticed sluggish, distracted workers seeming to need more caffeine to function properly.
>
> "There
> are
> just a
> lot of
> tired
> people
> at work
> --
> people
> needing
> a
> couple
> of
> extra
> cups of
> coffee
> to get
> through
> the
> day,"
> said
> Ellen
> Molle,
> a
> spokeswoman for Sovereign Bank in Boston.
>
> Stephen
> Greyser, a professor of sports marketing at Harvard Business School and a Red Sox season ticket holder, likened fans' anxiety to the stress of taking on a second job.
>
> The
> games'
> impact
> has
> even
> been
> felt on
> Wall
> Street:
> Financial players overseas have noticed U.S. colleagues appearing distracted by the contest.
>
> "I did
> see
> that
> they
> took a
> little
> time to
> respond
> to the
> good
> news
> from
> IBM and
> Texas
> Instruments," said David Buik, head of business strategy at spread-betting firm Cantor Index in London, speaking about reaction to favorable earnings reports from the technology bellwethers. "They seem to be focused on the ball game."
>
> LIKE
> 'AN
> ABUSIVE
> RELATIONSHIP'
>
> Life
> should
> return
> to
> normal
> for
> half of
> the fan
> base
> after
> Wednesday night's showdown in the Bronx, where either the Yankees or the Red Sox will win a trip to the World Series (news - web sites) -- baseball's championship.
>
> But for
> fans of
> the
> winning
> club,
> it
> could
> be more
> of the
> same as
> their
> team
> plays
> another
> best-of-seven series against either the Houston Astros or the St. Louis Cardinals.
>
> The
> sense
> of
> anxiety
> is
> arguably more acute for Red Sox faithful, who are desperate for their club to defeat the arch-rival Yankees and advance to the World Series.
>
> Some
> believe
> their
> team is
> cursed,
> noting
> the Sox
> have
> not won
> a
> championship since 1918. The Yankees, meanwhile, have won 26 championships over the same 86-years -- an astonishing mark of success.
>
> David
> Barlow,
> director of the Center for Stress and Anxiety Disorders at Boston University, said being a Red Sox fan has similarities to being in an abusive relationship -- and that becomes more pronounced during the playoffs.
>
> "You
> get
> beaten
> down,
> battered down, slapped around, then all of a sudden you get picked up," he said.
>
> "I
> wouldn't be a bit surprised about worker productivity dropping this week among fans who are so intently focused and anxiously anticipating the outcome of each game."
>
> A Red
> Sox fan
> himself, he admitted to arriving late at work Wednesday because he stayed up to watch Tuesday's game.
>
> Yet
> another
> source
> of the
> baseball fever gripping the Northeast is that for observers of America's Pastime these are not just ballgames, they are historic milestones laden with emotional peaks and troughs.
>
>
>
>
> The Red
> Sox
> came
> into
> the
> American League Championship Series favored to win; they promptly dropped the first three games to the Yankees, including a humiliating 19-8 loss at home Saturday night.
>
> Pundits
> had
> written
> them
> off
> Sunday,
> as no
> team in
> Major
> League
> Baseball history has managed to force a Game Seven after trailing 3-0 in a best-of-seven series.
>
> But the
> Red Sox
> proved
> the
> naysayers wrong, winning two back-to-back, come-from-behind games in extra innings to set up Tuesday's Game Six. They won that, too, in a 4-2 stunner, which set up Wednesday's decisive Game Seven.
>
>
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