Does Icing work?

Tip to Bobman, this study says it does.

Researchers looked at 273 “pressure kicks” in the last moments of close games from six NFL seasons. They found that kickers successfully kicked field goals more than 80 percent of the time when they weren’t delayed by a timeout by the opposing team. But the success rate tumbled to two-thirds when they were iced, said the report, which appears in the September issue of the journal The Sports Psychologist.

There may be more going on than just overthinking. “It’s possible that physically preparing for the kick is taxing,” says study lead author Nadav Goldschmied, a professor of psychology at the University of San Diego. “You’re getting ready, you’re under pressure, you’re focused, and then you stop and then you need to do the preparation phase again.”