Choke (sports)

In sports, a "choke" is the failure of an athlete or an athletic team to win a game or tournament when the player or team had been strongly favored to win or had squandered a large lead in the late stages of the event. Someone who chokes may be known as a "choker" or, more derisively, as a "choke artist." Choking in sport can be considered a form of analysis paralysis. The opposite of choking is to be "clutch". A clutch player or team rises to the occasion under pressure rather than collapsing or falling apart.

Explanation for why choking happens

Two dominant theories have emerged from the research; explicit monitoring, and distraction theory.

Explicit monitoring theory

The explicit monitoring theory provides an explanation for athlete’s under-performance at the precise moment they need to be at their best. Beilock and Carr suggest that “pressure raises self-consciousness and anxiety about performing correctly, which increases the attention paid to skill processes and their step-by-step control. Attention to execution at this step-by-step level is thought to disrupt well-learned or proceduralized performances.”^[1]

Distraction theory

Distraction theory was first suggested by Wine ^[2] to explain under-performance in performance pressure situations. Distraction theorists argue that pressure creates a dual task situation which draws attention away from the task at hand. Attention is then focused towards irrelevant stimuli such as worries, social expectations, and anxiety ^[3] Wine first tested his hypothesis with academic tests but it has since been applied to athletics.

Research has found that distraction theory is supported in situations where working memory is used to analyze and make decisions quickly.^[4] Short term memory is used to maintain relevant stimuli and block irrelevant information as it relates to the task at hand.^[5]

Examples of choking in sports

Golf

In 1996, Greg Norman led the US Masters by 6 strokes going into the final day only to shoot a final day 78 and lose by five strokes to Nick Faldo.

Ice Hockey

The 2012-2013 season showed the Toronto Maple Leafs "choking" in game 7 of the Stanley Cup Playoffs to the Boston Bruins. The Leafs allowed the Boson Bruins to come back from a 3 goal deficit in the last few minutes of the game. Boston would go on to win in overtime.

Cricket

The South African national Cricket team has gained a reputation as a frequent choker at global cricket tournaments conducted by the International Cricket Council. Despite being consistently one of the best-performing nations in all forms of cricket since its return from isolation, the Proteas have never progressed beyond the semi-final stage at a World Cup, nor won a game during the knock-out stage of the tournament.^[6] This reputation arises largely from two events:

• In the 1999 Super Six Stage, Herschelle Gibbs dropped eventual centurion Steve Waugh after which Australia went on to win the match,^[7] then a shambolic run-out involving Allan Donald and Lance Klusener in the semi-final also against Australia ended South Africa's second innings with the scores tied. Australia progressed on the basis of its superior run rate through the tournament.
• In the Proteas' final game of Cricket World Cup 2003's group stage (which was effectively a knock-out match, as they had to win to progress to the super six), South Africa tied the rain-affected game against Sri Lanka which they could have won, after they misinterpreted the Duckworth-Lewis rain rule tables shortly before the match was called off.

In addition to surrendering commanding positions in the above matches, South Africa suffered upset losses against the West Indies in 1996 and New Zealand in 2011.^[8] South Africa's win in the 1998 ICC KnockOut Trophy remains their only international tournament victory to date.

The English national Cricket team, despite being consistently among the top half dozen ranked teams in international cricket, have only won one global tournament so far, the 2010 ICC World Twenty20, and are noted for having thrown away winning positions in several high-profile games, including:

• In the 2004 ICC Champions Trophy final, England had put themselves into a dominant position by reducing the West Indies to 147/8 chasing a target of 218, but failed to prevent tail-enders Courtney Browne and Ian Bradshaw from putting together an unlikely partnership of 71 to win.
• In the 2013 final, England batted second and got into a position of needing just 20 runs off the last 16 balls, with six wickets in hand, but lost four wickets in the space of eight balls and lost the match by five runs.^[9]

American football

Use of the term "choke" in this context is most frequently encountered in the United States, and appears to be of relatively recent origin, not becoming reasonably widespread until well into the 1960s.^{[citation needed]}

In a Wild Card playoff matchup between the Buffalo Bills and the Houston Oilers On January 3, 1993, the Oilers blew a 32-point lead to lose in overtime, the largest in a playoff game in NFL history. This game is known to this day as The Comeback, or locally in Houston as The Choke.^[10]

Baseball

The University of Mississippi (aka "Ole Miss Rebels") baseball team has gone 0-6 in NCAA Super Regional games at home after winning the first game in three different best-of-three series.^[11] During the 2012 NCAA baseball regionals, the Rebels were 2-0 and one win from advancing to the Super Regionals, but lost two straight games to TCU and failed to advance. In reference to the University of Mississippi baseball team's 41-year absence from the College World Series, OMAHA has also been coined an acronym for "Ole Miss At Home Again".^[12][13]

See also

• Collapse (sports)

References