October. It’s one of the best months for humanity in the year. The crisp autumn leaves falling to the ground a reminder that winter will soon blanket us with snow instead of beautiful colors. The weather begins to cool, not to the stinging cold of winter, but the brisk autumn weather which allows for Jeans a light fleece jacket and more time outdoors. It always looks like late afternoon and the sun does not blind you as much as the bright yellow summer light, instead the earth takes on a more orange tint. October is fantastic, especially if you’re a sports fan. But you have to wonder why? Why does October send shivers down sports fans spines and make them want to go out to the football field and Ball Park to enjoy Americas pastime?, no not baseball, sports.
One of the more obvious answers according to sports fans and pundits to this question is that all major North American sports are being played in the month of October. MLB playoffs, NFL, NHL, and NBA are all played in the tenth month of the year. I simply can’t believe that’s all that makes this month so joyous for sports fans. So what could it be? I set out on a journey to find out. What makes October a win for sports fans everywhere?
As I step outdoors the first thing I notice is the temperature. A magnificent 67 degrees the perfect weather to be outside. It just feels natural you’re not going to sweat unless you’re working really hard and you’re not going to be cold either. This is no coincidence, because according to the West Midlands Public in the UK the most comfortable average temperature for most adults and adolescence is 64 degrees Fahrenheit. The National weather service, NOAA, states the average temperature in October is 68 degrees. With optimal outdoor conditions October drives everyone even the non-sports faithful into the outdoors to do something. The climate however favors the sports fan more than ever not only to go out to the games but to go out and play the sports they enjoy watching so much. If you play the sport you watch you gain a keener appreciation for the athletes’ physical activities and are more immersed in the game. You are no longer simply in it for the score; you are now watching the movement agility and speed of the athletes as well. It is also simply more enjoyable to sit through a live sporting event in near perfect temperatures. Any sports fan will tell you that no matter the quality of the entertainment system sporting events are always better live.
The temperature affects the game itself as well if you’re an athlete. According to bielievepreform.com, a UK website, athletes preform at peak capacity for 42 minutes longer than there average at a temperature of 11 degrees Celsius (51 degrees Fahrenheit). This leads to more exciting games as athletes preform at their peak much longer and aren’t being exhausted as easily as in extreme heat (80-90 degrees F). More exciting games equal more fans tuning in on television or attending the games live.
As I continue my autumn walk I head down to the Elementary school by my house. I notice one acute difference as I head toward the school: the way it looks. In summer and winter the school is a dark brown brick boring and blah, that is until sunset hits. As the sun sets and hits the school it turns blah into an awe inspiring almost sand stone brown. The color is beautiful with thousands of undertone-tints; now the school becomes a very pleasant building to look at. In the fall because, of the earth’s position to the sun, the light the gigantic star emits becomes less powerful and spreads a more orange and reddish tint. Red, it turns out, according to David Johnson a psychologist and writer for factmonster.com elicits an interesting emotional response as a color. Red is the most emotionally intense color. It simulates heart rate and breathing. This was very interesting to me; perhaps the reason Sports just seem better in October is the color that is being projected by the sun. If red and orange were both emotionally charged colors could they affect the way we feel about the sports we’re watching? Sports are such an emotional pastime already, if color can add to those feelings that would certainly explain the increased enjoy-ability of watching sports in the fall months, specifically October. For example the MLB playoffs, playoffs in any sport are intense but they get that much more intense in baseball because of how long the players have worked all season to get to them. Emotions run high and players make more aggressive emotionally charged decisions that can change the outcome of a game. If red really can make our emotions more vulnerable than maybe that increases the enjoy-ability of watching a playoff series more; especially around sunset when red and orange light are abundant. One of my favorite stadiums to watch football on tv from is O co Coliseum home of the Oakland raiders. Perhaps it’s because the games feel more dramatic there especially around sunset because of the way the orange red sunlight hits the clay infield of the baseball field that also encompasses the Coliseum. The clay enhances the red light which makes games more appealing to watch, even in the middle of summer. If red ups the emotion it would make sense why October is a precious gem of a month for sports fans.
The counter argument would be; it doesn’t matter because even in yellow bright summer light sports are easy to watch. Not necessarily true, yellow is the hardest color for the eye to consume and process. Especially yellow light, I implore you, go watch the highlights of any NHL team whose stadium uses yellow light. The Calgary Flames stadium is yellow light lit and it’s just hard to watch; whereas red is easy on the eye and is the easiest color for our brains to Process. And isn’t the point of watching sports to turn our brains off? If you have to process the way an event looks because of the lighting even if it’s only for a split second then you lose part of the action.
“What do you mean by red and orange light though? I don’t see any difference in the natural lighting in the fall.” You may ask. When the sun comes through our atmosphere it takes on different spectrums of light. When we are closer to the sun the light is brighter and gives off a yellow tint. However when the sun is farther away in the fall it is dimmed. This gives the light a less extreme brightness and gives it a more orange reddish hue. That is even more pronounced in October, the leaves fall off the trees in November but in October they gain the vibrant reds and yellows that soften the light of the sun. As the sunlight hits red and orange it takes on a redder tint. Back to Oakland the reason games there look pretty even in the summer is because the clay infield provides a buffer. The light reflected off is much easier on the eye than the light bouncing off a green soccer pitch. That’s why baseball is tolerable on the eye in the summer more than say soccer because the red light bouncing off the infield helps balance out the bright yellow light from the sky.
So color is important, you get that at this point but what helps show off color? Shadows, shadows help contrast color remarkably. According to Santa Rosa junior college shadows make colors sharper and easier for our eyes to take in and our brains to process. As we all know in the autumn months our shadows get longer and more pronounced. So as shadows get more pronounced so do those crucial colors. Shadows are extremely important in the way stadiums fields look. If the field is too bright then the game is hard to see but if to dark players and uniforms can get lost in the shade for brief moments. Which is why North American stadiums are designed with that in mind. Architects make sure that the shadows on the field mute the brightness of the sun spotted parts of the field while not drowning out color all together. Designers want the field to in lighted portions shaded in a light red or orange light. Coincidence? I think not, meanwhile stadium designers want to have the shadows in a tone of light royal blue. That seems to match up; it ends up, with the autumn sky. So yes if you were wondering the overall looks of a stadium in the fall months especially October is better than any other month of the year. The shadows of stadiums add to the overall aesthetic appeal of stadiums in the fall which once again makes the sports being played on them look good.
Looks aren’t everything, are they? It seemed at this point through my journey they were. Is the biggest reason sports are more enjoyable in October looks? I refused to believe that, science however so far had proven me wrong. Science isn’t the ultimate answer though. So I had to delve into what makes us feel. The feeling of your heart pounding rapidly in your chest as the game winning kick goes up, The shiver that goes down your spine when you hear the roar of the crowd around you, the feeling of pure joy when your team wins. These things seem to be exemplified in October. How? According to business insider the best month emotionally is September. Now coming from that point of view of course this publication is business based what does that have to do with sports? “Nothing Eric”, surprisingly it does have something in common with sports business, just like business sport is trying to sell us something. Drama, excitement, underdogs, heroes, it’s all being sold to us in October more than any other month. The reason? Just as we buy impulsively through emotion we indulge in sports with even more of that passion. We lack sports most of the year and October gives us our biggest dose of them. In the winter you have NBA and NHL going on two long and grueling seasons for sports fans to follow. In the spring college basketball takes center stage and when it leaves in April it gives way to the most exciting parts on the NBA and NHL season, playoffs. April also brings us back baseball which we are enchanted by for the first few weeks its back. We then lose touch with the overly long 170 game seasons though. Then the worst part of the year for North American sports fans, summer, unless the Olympics or world cup are on you have only one option, Baseball. That’s why in September when America gets football back it’s such a relief. October takes the title though for our sports emotions. Business insider (the magazine) states the reason September is the best month for businesses to target us is because it’s when we are most productive. Summer is taken away by plans winter has a depressing mood to it and spring is too short to gain any customers. October sells us everything we want in one month for sports because we have been without it for so long. It is the most productive sports month and simply makes us sports fans remember this is what we live for.
A resounding cheer goes around the Indians ballpark as the big board shows the Cavaliers lifting there NBA banner across the street at Quicken Loans arena. Back in Chicago the Blackhawks are stunned by the stumbling flames. That’s only Tuesday, Monday the Broncos welcomed Brock Oswieler the former Denver Quarter Back into the mile high city with resounding boos. So goes October, the month that seems to be pure bliss for sports fans. October is the month sports deserves with optimal weather for athletes and fans, perfect color, perfect lighting a perfect set up. All major North American sports are in season, you can watch Monday night football, catch a Cavs game on a Tuesday, The World Series Wednesday, and then your set up with your choice of NBA, MLB, NFL, or NHL for the weekend. It’s the Oasis for our starving sports pallet all the drama, all the action, all the beauty in one month. October is certainly not the sports month we as fans deserve but it’s the one we need.
