Uniform color affects sporting outcomes

Russell Hill and Robert Barton of the University of Durham made an interesting discovery at the 2004 Olympics: wearing the color red may play a factor in propelling an athlete to victory. After watching and documenting the outcomes of one-on-one sports such as boxing, wrestling, and martial arts, they found the the competitor wearing red tended to triumph over the competitor wearing blue. Color had no impact on victory in matches where one athlete domminated the other, but in close matches, the red-garbed athletes had an edge. Olympic officials randomly assign red and blue outfits to the competitors. They found the same phenomenon at play in the 2004 Euro soccer tournament. They relate this research to other studies that have shown that red is an across-the-species booster in contests between competitive males. For example, one study showed that finches with red rings attached to their legs increased their dominance in the pecking order.

At last! An explanation for the continued dominance of Randy "Macho Man" Savage. It's all in the trunks, yeee-ah!

For a list of phrases and sayings that involve the word red:
http://www.google.co.uk/custom?domains=www.phrases.org.uk&q=red&sitesearch=www.phrases.org.uk&client=pub-1661211094230592&forid=1&ie=ISO-8859-1&oe=ISO-8859-1&cof=GALT%3A%23008000%3BGL%3A1%3BDIV%3A%23336699%3BVLC%3A663399%3BAH%3Acenter%3BBGC%3AFFFFFF%3BLBGC%3A336699%3BALC%3A0000FF%3BLC%3A0000FF%3BT%3A000000%3BGFNT%3A0000FF%3BGIMP%3A0000FF%3BFORID%3A1%3B&hl=en

Red in the world of color psychology:
http://psychology.about.com/library/bl/blcolor_red1.htm