Sports Fan IQ test
I am in a profession where being a passionate sports fan is considered a bit low rent, so I am an anomaly. My colleagues think my memory for individual game details, player game, season, and career stats to be quite Stanthraxian.
That being said, here is my criteria for what makes a KNOWLEDGABLE sports fan:
Rosters:
1. NHL- 2 complete lines (LW, C, RW), 4 defensman, starting goalie, head coach
2. NBA - starting five, 3 reserves, head coach
3. MLB - starting nine, 3 starting pitchers, 2 relievers including the closer, manager
4. NFL - Offense: At least 3/5 of OL, QB, RB, FB, 3 WR, K
- Defense: 8 of 11 starters, head coach
Champions:
5. Champions of past 20 years for all 4 sports (and who they beat)
5A. Bonus points: MVP of those championships
5B. Bonus Points: Stats of those championship games/series
Individual Stats:
6. MVP/CY Young- At least 15 over a 25 year period.
7. Heisman Trophy - At least 20 over a 25 year period.
8. Playoff performances (if noteworthy for either excellence or failure)
NCAA:
1. Basketball- Champs and who they beat for the past 25 years (90% acceptable).
2. Football - Mythical champs for the past 20 years (80% acceptable)
posted by SportPsych Detroit @ 11:27 AM
10 Comments:
just when I thought I was a somewhat knowledgable sports fan, I find out I don't quite pass.
Can you say.....Hi I have no life
Anon--
Actually, the person who has no life is the one who studies for this test. By definition, this is an aptitude test, one of ability, as opposed to an achievement test, when one actively adds on to their knowledge base. Thus, one who performs well on this test is highly gifted in the area of sports knowledge, which is really no different than one who scores high on any other test of ability.
It is your opinion that one who cares about sports knowledge has no life, but the same argument could be made for one who has a high aptitude for almost any other topic (history, science, music/entertainment, etc.).
I posted this comment on airtimedaily.blogspot.com, in response to Air's challenge to his readers to take the test:
This is really more representative of what I believe, and has less negative energy than my previous response. Anon, enjoy:
Those of you who struggle with this test, do not immediately justify it with bold statements about the uselessness of sports knowledge. Do not be afraid of it. Rather, be mindful of your ignorance, observe it, touch it, embrace it, and decide whether it is an important value of yours to be sports ignorant or sports gifted.
If ignorance is bliss, allow yourself the freedom to be ignorant, but learn to celebrate the wisdom of others. If wisdonm is what you seek, consider yourself a student, and do not be afraid of the task. It is not daunting, and can be an exciting journey, to learn about things you did not know, to be willing to ask others, and be comfortable with saying, "please let me learn."
Removing the shackles of insecurity is a beautiful thing, and is where much learning occurs--not just about the topic of interest, but about ourselves as well.
Agreed the person who has no life studies for this test as is the person who has wasted so much time as to know that much useless crap.
As frum jews (I assume you are) there are far better uses for your time.
I don't know why people always think there are better uses for time. Sports is a great use of one's time.
It seems to me there are several separate issues here:
1. Is following sports a constructive use of one's time?
2. Is following sports a constructive use of a "frum jew's" time?
3. Is having detailed knowledge of statistics of sporting events and teams a constructive use of one's time?
4. Is having detailed knowledge of statistics of sporting events and teams a constructive use of "frum jew's" time?
First, I must note that not all of Air's friends, even those who attend a Friday night Shalom zachor, identify themselves as a "frum jew."
Second, I will soon post all the reasons why following sports, and being knowledgeable about its history, rules, rosters, etc. can increase one's mathematical skills, abstract reasoning skills, and contributes to the development of ethics/values.
Thanks for reading and challenging me. It is important to revisit one's behavior to contemplate whether something that may have been useful at one point in one's life continues to be constructive
Gebrec,
Welcome!
I could arrange to have functional neuroimaging (fMRI) taken of my brain while people try to "Stump the Schwab." Then one can learn what parts of the brain get activated when answering a sports trivia question. Aside from the actual area of the brain that stores semantic knowledge, there are also memories and emotions associated with the initial event. Furthermore, memory researchers say that people who make multiple methods of memorizing and learning information have a greater capacity to withstand the memory loss associated with aging. It would be interesting to see what parts of the brain are utilized when forced to rely upon related information to answer the question. Thus, we could study sports fans and learn from them about strategies to maximize our semantic priming network.
Would that count as a picture?
I can't get to that address that you emailed me at
email me at first initial last name at bcbsm dot com
I should be back around 1:15
Air,
Thanks.
Gebrec,
Imagine what it's like living with thousands of those types of comments running around in your head...numbers provide order to a chaotic world. Just ask the director of Pi
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