Science Explains a City's Sport Discord

Through our children's sports teams we have oft had the displeasure of playing against a particular city's teams. Whether it was in boys' hockey, girls' hockey, volleyball, soccer or football; in exhibition, regular season, tournament or playoff action; from Peewee through Bantam to Midget; I have consistently witnessed cheap hits, a higher incidence of fighting and overall poor sportsmanship by players and even some bench staff of teams from this particular city.

After an especially dangerous season, some boys' hockey coaches refused any more exhibition games against teams from this city. Last month, Jessica's hockey team played against a team from this city. There were ejections, suspensions and a ton of penalty minutes. On the drive home, we discussed several possible theories for the agitated intensity displayed despite the high talent of the players.

Thanks to results of a study released by European researchers, we finally have our answer:
Air Traffic Noise Increases Blood Pressure.

It's not the water. It's not a volunteer recruitment program that only accepts coaches willing to standardize dirty play. It's the planes!

It's not just a source of irritation, it's bad for residents' health, said epidemiologist Lars Jarup, leader of the study at Imperial College London.

Brampton is just 4 km from Pearson International Airport, Canada's busiest airport.

The Greater Toronto Airport Authority's noise contour map clearly includes Brampton within its noise operating area (click map to view map of noise estimate).

Explaining it doesn't justify it.

In the name of fair play, send 440,000 pairs of earplugs to City Hall for immediate distribution...before Jess's team draws them in the first round of the playoffs!

Tags: [Air Traffic Noise]  [Blood Pressure]
[Pearson International Airport]  [Brampton]
[Lars Jarup]  [Imperial College London]