Good afternoon on this beautiful Super Bowl Sunday. I guess beautiful is a bit subjective considering it is like -5 degrees Fahrenheit where I am living right now. I am finally over my short-term depression after my Green Bay Packers lost their opportunity to play for the Lombardi Trophy a few weeks ago - and I assume I will slip back into that depression around game time - but it is still a great American tradition to sit down with your family and friends and watch the big game.
That is what I want to quickly point out today - the importance of sports in the U.S. and around the world. Sports can teach us a lot. How to play as a team. How to win. How to lose. How to improve your craft. I will go as far as to say, if sports were to be made illegal today, the United States would cease to exist in any recognizable form within 5 years.
That does not mean sports are not on their way out. The further we get from competitive competition and the closer we get to a participation trophy culture, sports will begin to lose its positive effect on society. Dr. Jordan Peterson has given a very comprehensive analysis on the positive utility of sports several times in the past (unfortunately I do not have time to dig those clips up, but you should be able to find them on the YouTubes if they have not been scrubbed off there yet). But to put things in my own words, as a long-time sports ball player myself, I look at sports in this way:
There are two types of sports: (1) team sports and (2) individual sports. Team sports does exactly what is says it does, it helps the player know how to form a team. A team is not just a group of people moving towards the same goal. It is an effort to play the right pieces at the right time without individual ego getting in the way. You can gauge the health of a team when everything is on the line. It is fine if each individual on the team asks for the ball/puck/[enter applicable object to your sport here] to score and put your team ahead, but a healthy team already knows what their assignments are. Give the ball to the best scorer. Free up your best defender to make a play. Put the right pieces in the right place to give your team the best chance to win. This does not take verbal communication. It just takes a few looks from your teammates to know what the team ought to do and a competent coach and leader to call the right play or lay down the best strategy. In victory, the teams knows they made the right call. In defeat, the team does not beat themselves up about making the wrong call but rather understands they must improve themselves in order to execute that call closer to perfection the next time.
Individual sports are a bit different. Track and field, combat sports, golf, and many others fit into this category even though all of them take a team effort prior to the final event. The unique part about individual sports is the best individual in all those sports understands one thing: You are not trying to be better than your competition, you are trying to be better than the person you were yesterday. Any athlete in an individual sport is bound to lose when they only compare themselves to their competition because they cannot track their personal improvement when training by looking at someone else. This is something the culture at-large has completely forgotten, and even outright rejected. You win by beating who you were yesterday.
The most unique part about sports is its cyclical nature. There is always a new season. There is always a new battle. Even making it to the peak of your sport does not mean it is the end of your journey. Even champions are humbled by the short-lived celebration they get to enjoy before training for the next season or event. And the best in every sport understands there is not much time to celebrate because someone else who took a loss is going to train harder than you if you take time off.
To some, sports are a way to have fun and blow off steam. To others, watching sports is a way to take your mind off work, life, and even silly things like politics. To a small few, playing sports is a way to improve yourself until you are close to perfection. A large percentage of those few will learn perfection is unattainable and make peace with their limitations. A very small percentage of elite athletes will learn perfection is unattainable and continue to ignore their limits and go for perfection anyways.
I want to end with this little poll for the Engineering Politics Locals Community just out of curiosity. What is your favorite sport to play or watch? If you have a good story to share about that sport, please share in the comment section.
I was listening to some news updates when I heard this CNN clip about the potentially hazardous water in East Palestine, and as soon as I heard her ask the question about whether or not her guest would drink the water, I IMMEDIATELY thought of this clip from South Park. Enjoy.
In this special episode of The Engineering Politics Podcast, Truman from Return To Reason is back for a new video and podcast series titled ‘Revisiting The Road To Serfdom’ where we review F.A. Hayek’s classic work, The Road To Serfdom. This episode covers ‘Chapter 15: The Prospects of International Order’.
This will be an ongoing series that covers the entire book. We put a ton of work into making this insightful and relevant, so we hope you enjoy watching/listening as much as we enjoyed reading and recording.
Become a subscriber of the Engineering Politics Locals Community to support this content. Also, consider joining the @ReturnToReason Locals Community to show Truman some support.
In this episode of The Engineering Politics Podcast, I team up with Truman from @ReturnToReason to interview one of the most intelligent and influential creators in the space of philosophy today. Stephen R.C. Hicks is a Professor of Philosophy at Rockford University, Executive Director of the Center for Ethics and Entrepreneurship, and Senior Scholar at The Atlas Society. He has written many books including Explaining Postmodernism and Nietzsche and the Nazis. We bring him on to talk about the social and political issues we are currently facing in America, and the West more broadly, and what the collectivist ideas of Jean-Jacques Rousseau might have to do with it.
Become a subscriber of the Engineering Politics Locals Community to support this content. Also, consider joining the @ReturnToReason Locals Community to show Truman some support.
In this special episode of The Engineering Politics Podcast, Truman from Return To Reason is back for a new video and podcast series titled ‘Revisiting The Road To Serfdom’ where we review F.A. Hayek’s classic work, The Road To Serfdom. This episode covers ‘Chapter 15: The Prospects of International Order’.
This will be an ongoing series that covers the entire book. We put a ton of work into making this insightful and relevant, so we hope you enjoy watching/listening as much as we enjoyed reading and recording.
Become a subscriber of the Engineering Politics Locals Community to support this content. Also, consider joining the @ReturnToReason Locals Community to show Truman some support.
In this episode of The Engineering Politics Podcast, I team up with Truman from @ReturnToReason to interview one of the most intelligent and influential creators in the space of philosophy today. Stephen R.C. Hicks is a Professor of Philosophy at Rockford University, Executive Director of the Center for Ethics and Entrepreneurship, and Senior Scholar at The Atlas Society. He has written many books including Explaining Postmodernism and Nietzsche and the Nazis. We bring him on to talk about the social and political issues we are currently facing in America, and the West more broadly, and what the collectivist ideas of Jean-Jacques Rousseau might have to do with it.
Become a subscriber of the Engineering Politics Locals Community to support this content. Also, consider joining the @ReturnToReason Locals Community to show Truman some support.
In this special episode of The Engineering Politics Podcast, Truman from @ReturnToReason is back for a new video and podcast series titled ‘Revisiting The Road To Serfdom’ where we review F.A. Hayek’s classic work, The Road To Serfdom. This episode covers ‘Chapter 14: Material Conditions and Ideal Ends’.
This will be an ongoing series that covers the entire book. We put a ton of work into making this insightful and relevant, so we hope you enjoy watching/listening as much as we enjoyed reading and recording.
Become a subscriber of the Engineering Politics Locals Community to support this content. Also, consider joining the @ReturnToReason Locals Community to show Truman some support.
