From: howdHol@yaooho.com   
      
   Snidely  wrote:   
      
   > Do hometown crowds make a difference?  Yes, they do.   
   >   
   > And the analysis favors what social psychologists call /emotional   
   > contagion/ over the /influence the refs/ hypothesis.   
      
   "Given that the Knicks had played 40 percent of their home games to that   
   point without fans,"   
      
   But did the Knicks have any fans even when people are allowed to watch?*   
      
   One wrinkle to this analysis is that for a bunch of games, a lot of the   
   people in the stands are fans of the visiting team.   
      
      
   *OK, this year they weren't terrible. Some of the people at MSG were   
   probably rooting for them. But it's still awfully common for them to get   
   a lot of Nets, Celtics, Bulls and Sixers fans.   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)