For those whom the phrase “Things to Do” just isn’t sufficient, the term Bucket List has been invented. A bucket list is just a list of cool things someone wants to do before they die.The Chicago Tribune recently ran a feature about sports bucket lists. They divided the feature into three parts: Places to see, events to attend, and events in which you can participate. Most of the list is comprised of places to see.This only makes sense, especially when related to sports. There are many historic old places, fancy new places, and just plain beautiful or awe-inspiring places in which to watch sporting events. The Tribune’s list includes many of them.However, what interests me most about their selections is how many of the places to see provide a distinct advantage to the teams that play there. These places aren’t just cool places to see a game. They’re places in which the fans are so rabid, the setting so unusual, the atmosphere so intimidating, that it’s practically impossible for a visiting team to emerge victorious.I’m thinking of places like Allen Fieldhouse where the Kansas Jayhawks play basketball, or Cameron Indoor Stadium where Duke does the same. Tiger Stadium at LSU is notoriously difficult for visiting football teams, and even the Cubs have won 450 more games at Wrigley Field than they’ve lost.There’s definitely something to the idea of home field advantage.I also think the idea transcends sports. I’m not sure why, but I suspect it has something to do with the phrase itself: home field. It has the word home right in there! What bigger advantage do any of us have than our own homes?
Home is where the heart is. There’s no place like home. A man’s home is his castle. All of those phrases tell us that we have a special advantage in our home that just isn’t present anywhere else.We can accomplish things in our own home that no visitor could ever hope to accomplish. Don’t believe me? Try getting up to go to the bathroom in the middle of the night in your home. Then have a visitor come and try to do the same. See who has more success.The same holds true in international affairs. Had Vietnam not had home field advantage during that war, there’s no way they could have defeated the United States. But somehow, this country of just 40 million people defeated a country of 180 million people.Home field advantage.(Determination helps also. Consider Ho Chi Minh’s famous quote: “You can kill ten of our men for every one we kill of yours. But even at those odds, you will lose and we will win.” Home field and determination are a dynamite combination.)Home provides advantages that are hard for adversaries to overcome. The most obvious advantage is time. We spend most of our time at home. We get to know our home and all of its quirks. We understand how it works. We improve it, find ways to make it better than it was before. And all of those things are possible because of the extraordinary amount of time we spend there.Comfort is another advantage. Despite the plea to “make yourself at home,” no one is ever as comfortable in our homes as we are. We may intend to be welcoming when we say, “Mi casa es su casa,” but a visitor is a visitor, and our home is our home. Comfort, or maybe discomfort, is the advantage that’s most prevalent in sports.Maybe the most overlooked advantage of home is influence. If a player from the visiting team asks the crowd to cheer louder during a game, it’s likely to get quiet. But if a player from the home team asks for more noise, the place will erupt. The Vietnamese capitalized on millions of citizen helpers using this idea.Home influence is greatest within our own homes. The previous two advantages—time and comfort—allow us to exercise our influence at home. We know the past and the present, and with time and comfort, we can greatly influence the future. Good luck to the outsider who comes to our home and tries to change the way things are. They’ve got a pretty tall order, and success is unlikely.Home sweet home, indeed.PREVIOUS POST: Sometimes Just Being Summer is Good EnoughIF YOU LIKED THIS POST I BET YOU'LL ALSO LIKE: It's Good to be the Incumbent+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
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