Photos of the Nike-designed jerseys Canada’s hockey teams would wear at the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia, were leaked more than a month before the official unveiling, reported the Toronto Star Oct. 9. Despite the sour early response, York University sports marketing professor Vijay Setlur expects sales to climb as the games approach and patriotism spreads. “The fervour around the team will overcome all of the (initial negative reaction),” he says. “Whether it’s the Roots hat or the (Maple Leaf) mittens, not everybody liked them but they seemed to catch fire and take on a life of their own because people caught up in the frenzy of the games and what they symbolized. That overrides everything.” Read full story.
Dating dilemma: How soon is too soon to date?
There’s a healthy progression to dating, experts say, that includes starting with group activities involving both sexes in early adolescence, then progressively narrowing down to couples as teens get older, reported the Deseret News Oct. 8. Kids who jump the gun, forming romantic one-on-one dating relationships young, are more likely to have problematic behaviors at school and elsewhere, according to a new study from York University in Toronto. “It’s an important point for parents to monitor the type of relations your teens are involved in and to promote activities that bring boys and girls together in fairly structured, supervised ways,” said Jennifer Connolly, professor of psychology at York University and lead author on the study, to be published in the December Journal of Adolescence. Of the early daters they studied, Connolly said researchers saw problem behaviors, including being impulsive, getting into arguments with friends, fights at home and truancy at school. Read full story.