Indiana

"If you?re married and you live in a city that has a professional baseball you?re less likely to get a divorce than if you live in a city without a pro ball team, according to a study done by Professor Howard Markman, a psychologist and the director of the Center for Marital and Family Studies, at the University of Denver."

Dr. David Popenoe, a sociology professor and co-director of the National Marriage Project at Rutgers, doesn?t put much stock in Markman?s baseball theory. ?There may be some lose coalition between divorce and baseball, as far as the geographical factors are concerned. But it almost like saying a lot of deaths occur in hospitals,? the Rutgers professor added.

Popenoe was more sympathetic to Markman?s finding that couples that attend baseball games have a better chance of their marriage lasting longer than those that don?t. If the University of Denver professor is saying that a couple has a good time attending baseball games get some marital benefit, he would agree. However, he added they would probably get the same benefit if they went fishing together or went bowling.