Need help finding old post on why athletes are "smart"
I have been a reader since 2006 but an infrequent poster. I need help finding an old post of Brian that's stuck with me for a number of years but I can't find through searching. Brian made the case that athletes have a type of "intelligence" that shouldn't ignored or discounted because it doesn't fit the traditional book-smart definition of intelligence. Anyone remember this post and can help me find it? Would love to read it again.
Also, has anyone compiled a "greatest hits" set of posts from the archive? Michigan football was what drew me in, but the writing is what kept me coming back to this site all these years.
February 9th, 2023 at 4:23 AM ^
Not sure if this is it but this was a takedown of Harbaugh (then at Stanford) that Brian posted after Harbaugh talked about Michigan’s acceptance standards for football players. Veers into athlete intelligence and how athletes succeed off the field.
Funny how the world turns. https://mgoblog.com/content/destroy-harbaugh
February 9th, 2023 at 7:13 AM ^
i could not agree with brian's article more, and i would suggest that the same holds true (in general) for kids who play sports through, say, high school but not beyond. on balance i think it's safe to say athletes punch over their weight in the world precisely because of what they learn on the field/court/ice/track, etc. men or women, regardless of the sport, develop and utilize skills and discipline that is/are very hard to recreate in most other parts of life, and which skills are extremely helpful in having careers, marriages, etc. not a guarantee, far from it, but on the whole much better to develop those skills than not.
February 9th, 2023 at 8:59 AM ^
I agree-and it applies particularly to athletes who participate in team sports-that require significant interaction of play with one's teammates. I believe that the crux of this reality revolves around experiencing and coming to understand how one can contribute to the betterment of the larger good/success. But/And here it includes developing the resilience to persevere through "failure".
February 9th, 2023 at 9:32 AM ^
I didn't play sports but both my kids did, my son through college. He was one of those kids who was a perfectionist from the age of 5. If he made a bad play, like walking a kid, he'd fall down and start crying. This continued through grade school. As he matured, he realized that if he wanted to continue playing, he'd have to learn how to manage that part of himself. He couldn't fall apart in the middle of a game. Some coaches were hard on him and no one taught him how to do it, so he had to teach himself. By the time he reached college, he pitched in some very high pressure situations and by that time, he had learned how to manage the emotions. Amazing accomplishment in my book and something he wouldn't have learned had he not gone through it in baseball. He probably doesn't remember this but in middle school, a few of his teammates ribbed him, and not in a good-natured way, about his emotionality. He didn't quit, he kept going, kept pushing through, and I think he developed an emotional intelligence that he uses today.
February 9th, 2023 at 7:44 PM ^
I was also a big-ass baby like that when I was a kid. My dad told me that I was embarrassing him. That’s all it took to straighten me out. I was 8.
February 9th, 2023 at 9:12 AM ^
Very good! This is the anti-Bruce Springsteen-"Glory Days" post.
I do think there's a path of diminishing returns for many people because they don't have that coach and/or team to keep them focused and disciplined. Self-motivation is difficult without accountability.
February 9th, 2023 at 9:54 AM ^
Good athletes' "physical intelligence" -- as I've called it -- should definitely be included whenever we talk about intelligence itself.
A wonderful education writer from the '60s/'70s named John Holt once wrote something like (paraphrasing) "who knows more about the ballistics of a batted fly ball -- a physicist, or a skilled outfielder like Carl Yastrzemski? Sure, the physicist can show us the math that models the trajectory, but the outfielder also has a mental model that works, perhaps more quickly, to figure out where the ball will land. And that's what real intelligence is all about."
If we make athletes pass math tests to be eligible to further their education, should we also make physics majors pass fly-ball catching tests before we allow them to do the same?
February 9th, 2023 at 12:12 PM ^
I'd argue the military does the same thing. Both sports and the military teach you the value of working as a team and with peers. They also challenge you to do much more than you think you can. Discipline, if lacking, is also improved.
I went in the Army right after high school. I had my reasons, which were all stupid, but when I finished my term I was very glad I had done it. If your kids, or you, don't have a direction right out of school I highly recommend it if sports isn't their thing.
February 9th, 2023 at 1:32 PM ^
agreed re: military can and does do much of the same molding. my uncle is a great story mirroring that scenario.
February 9th, 2023 at 6:14 AM ^
I don't know how athletic this guy is (he didn't look very twitchy around the vegetable stand) but he makes a compelling argument:
February 9th, 2023 at 5:24 PM ^
A very unlikeable character.
February 9th, 2023 at 7:05 AM ^
Brian and friends trip to Columbus "Pride of the Buckeyes" was always one of my favorites.
https://mgoblog.com/content/pride-buckeyes
February 9th, 2023 at 7:38 AM ^
Alvin Mack approves.
February 9th, 2023 at 9:11 AM ^
There is a book called “The Performance Cortex” that you might enjoy. A running theory in the neuroscience world is that great athletes brain’s are wired in a way that allows for extreme efficiency of movement. The book also talks about the concept of athletic genius. One of the examples is that elite athletes can typically instantly recall details of situations from seemingly trivial moments, such as a pitcher remembering the exact details from facing a certain hitter six years ago in game 67 of 162. Pretty cool book if you’re into that kind of stuff.
February 9th, 2023 at 9:32 AM ^
Here's an example of athletic genius - Ted Williams, Wade Boggs and Don Mattingly going to supper to talk hitting.
https://vault.si.com/vault/1986/04/14/a-real-rap-session
I remember reading this years ago and being amazed when they talked about generating smoke on foul tips.
February 9th, 2023 at 9:13 AM ^
A lot of schools, though, do seem to only care about keeping players eligible in any way possible. I live in Oklahoma and a local sports station has former OSU (ntOSU) coach Pat Jones on daily.
When the topic came up about athletes taking online classes, he quipped something to the effect of "hell, if they had online classes back when I was coaching, we could have gotten Dexter (Manley) a PhD!"
February 9th, 2023 at 11:43 AM ^
I don't remember this post of Brian's, but I wouldn't be surprised if it was informed by some of David Foster Wallace's writing on tennis. His piece on Roger Federer talks about this kind of "intelligence" a little bit. https://www.nytimes.com/2006/08/20/sports/playmagazine/20federer.html
Interestingly, what is less obscured in TV coverage is Federer’s intelligence, since this intelligence often manifests as angle. Federer is able to see, or create, gaps and angles for winners that no one else can envision, and television’s perspective is perfect for viewing and reviewing these Federer Moments. What’s harder to appreciate on TV is that these spectacular-looking angles and winners are not coming from nowhere — they’re often set up several shots ahead, and depend as much on Federer’s manipulation of opponents’ positions as they do on the pace or placement of the coup de grâce. And understanding how and why Federer is able to move other world-class athletes around this way requires, in turn, a better technical understanding of the modern power-baseline game than TV — again — is set up to provide.