Is a red shirt killing your euchre game?

Euchre Quote

There's nothing wrong with being well red

Euchre Haiku

When picking a shirt
To wear for a euchre match
Stay away from red

Euchre Gambits

Some time ago I started wearing red shirts whenever I went into some competition. This was based on a science story that suggested competitive athletes wearing red uniforms had a slight advantage over people wearing other colors. I'd wear red to kickball, while joggling and every other time there would be some competition.

It made sense that the same study would apply to euchre. Unfortunately, I didn't see much improvement in my euchre results. I'm not really sure if I saw improvement in other sports but euchre was most disappointing.

Then I heard about this study about how the color red effects test results. Typically, I don't put much stock in what psychologists have to say. It's not like real science. However, when you hear something that makes sense and is consistent with experience, you stop and take notice.

According to this research the color red has a negative impact on people taking tests. They theorize that people associate red with mistakes and failures (remember the color pen teachers use to mark papers?). This association in turn makes them do worse on the test.

So, maybe wearing a red shirt during a euchre competition isn't the best strategy. From now on, I'm hanging up my unofficial "Greatest American Hero" euchre competition shirt. Perhaps, I'll switch to my favorite color yellow. No more red for this member of the Euchre Universe.

Incidentally, didn't wear a red shirt yesterday and my team won our euchre match 4-1. Maybe you shouldn't wear a red shirt either.