We explored crowd behavior in the context of sports by studying 139 men’s National Collegiate Athletic Association televised basketball games, focusing on attempts at shot that completely missed the basket and are thus known colloquially as “airball shots” (ABSs). Through repeated observations, 354 instances were identified in 124 of these games. When an away player launches an ABS, the home crowd is likely to recite in unison an “Air ball, air ball” chant (ABC) to single the shooter out to supposedly generate an ego threat and to impede his future performance. We studied multiple player factors such as status (i.e., being a game starter or not), success on the previous shooting attempt, ABS distance, and ABS outcome, as well as crowd density, and found that home crowds were more likely to initially chant when the shot was made from a distance and when it resulted in a lost possession. Home crowds were also more persistent in their ABC when the shot was made farther from the basket. The findings are discussed in the context of early and current crowd behavior theories.

中文翻译：

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“空气球，空气球！”：对大学篮球比赛中集体高呼的研究。

我们通过研究 139 场全国大学体育协会电视转播的男子篮球比赛，探讨了体育背景下的人群行为，重点关注完全未命中篮筐的投篮尝试，因此通俗地称为“空投投篮”（ABS）。通过反复观察，在其中的 124 个游戏中识别出了 354 个实例。当客场球员发射 ABS 时，主场观众可能会齐声诵念“空气球，空气球”的颂歌 (ABC)，以将射手挑出来，据称会产生自我威胁并阻碍他未来的表现。我们研究了多种玩家因素，例如状态（即是否为比赛首发）、上次投篮成功、ABS 距离和 ABS 结果，以及人群密度，并发现当远距离射门以及导致失去控球权时，主场观众更有可能开始高呼。当投篮距离篮筐更远时，主场观众在他们的 ABC 中也更加坚持。这些发现在早期和当前的人群行为理论的背景下进行了讨论。