Sports is Good for Your Health

I have been accused of wasting my time following sports, and to a lesser extent, wasting my time playing sports. Which causes me to revisit my life, and ponder some serious questions:

1. Is following sports a constructive use of one's time?
2. Is having detailed knowledge of statistics of sporting events and teams a constructive use of one's time?
3. Is playing sports a constructive use of one's time.


I will answer number 3 first, and then address the other two. First, clearly playing sports is valuable in that it allows one to get valuable exercise s/he would not get by watching others play, or by reading a book, or by eating/sleeping/working, etc. Of course, like all activities, there is a limit to how much is constructive, and at what point it no longer provides the health benefits. But there are other elements to playing sports that are important to consider:

1. Playing sports is usually a social activity. Thus, one learns to get along with other people if s/he wants to enjoy a game. It is critical in a child's development to learn to get along with others, to share the ball, etc. Sports allows people the opportunity to practice getting along with those who bother them, and those who they like, a skill that is crucial when joining the workforce.

2. People of all colors, ethnicities, and nationalities come together under one roof, rubbing shoulders, elbows (and other body parts), in an effort to get close to others who support a similar cause. People tend to learn about others from different backgrounds when they play on the same team.

3. Playing ball teaches about the rewards of sacrificing for the team. Not to go all George Will on my readership, but have you ever noticed that with a man on first, if I hit a ground ball to second (while trying to get a base hit), and the second baseman throws to first, it counts as an out for me (0 for 1) while if I bunt the man over to second, I am still out, but it doesn't count as an (0 for 1) in my batting stats? That is an example of rewarding the player who intentionally sacrifices for the team!

4. Sports teaches (a) about ethics, (b) of playing clean, but hard, (c) not cheating, (d) that there are wins and losses (a valuable lesson in life that PC police are trying to take away from our kids), (e) about rewards and consequences for our actions.

Those are just a sample of reasons why playing sports is important to the physical, psychological, emotional, and spiritual development of our children. Now, let me address why following sports, and being knowledgeable about its history, rules, rosters, etc. can increase one's mathematical skills, abstract reasoning skills, and geographical/historical knowledge.

Geography Lesson Number #1:
South Bend is in Indiana, Knoxville is in Tennessee, Bristol is in both Connecticut and Tennessee. Morgantown and Charleston are in West Virginia. Manhattan is in Kansas. College Station, El Paso, Lubbock, Austin, Houston, San Antonio, Dallas, Arlington, Galveston, and Odessa are all in Texas.


My son can name and identify all 50 states, their capitals, and at least 5 cities within each state primarily because we follow sports. And no, he is not 25! He has been able to do this since the 1st grade, and continues to develop greater knowledge of the great United States of America. He also knows the Canadian provinces and their major cities, any city that has recently hosted an Olympiad, and countries that tend to be major players in soccer's World Cup. Sure, he can memorize that stuff randomly, but sports makes these places meaningful! Cooperstown, Canton, and Springfield are places to vist, and whenever we travel, he uses them as reference points on the trip ("hey Dad, sure you don't want to exit here onto the I-90? We are really close to Canton").

He knows about places like Happy Valley, Gainesville, and Norman. He appreciates Batavia, New York (home of the Muckdogs) as much as he does Birmingham, Alabama (home of the Barons).

Research on learning has demonstrated that one retains information best when the information is (a) presented in a fun, and meaningful way, and (b) the learner is able to link the new information to his or her existing knowledge base. So, trying to teach geography in a bland manner is not nearly as successful as making it fun and relevant. For example, let a child know these universities are places they may choose to attend school. If they learn well, they might get to move somewhere different and exciting. They have 50 states and a world to choose from. Help them get started on the search!! Let them know that Yale is in New Haven, CT, Dartmouth is in New Hampshire, and that Wayne State is in Detroit! What's the alternative...teaching them geography beginning with the explorers, and the way the U.S. systematically stole the land from the American Indian?

Which leads to another subject:

History:

My son knows about the Hurons, Chippewas, Seminoles, Sioux, Illini. Now the PC police want to take that away from him? Do the PC police plan on celebrating American Indian heritage in a different dignified manner. Or do they just feel guilty and want to pretend that their ancestors didn't actually kill out an entire culture? As long as the tribes themselves are actively involved in the university, and assist in teaching about their heritage (e.g. Florida State and the Seminole tribe), and the university splits 50-50 the proceeds of the money earned from jersey sales, etc., let them be!!!!

Second, my son knows about the year Roger Maris broke Babe Ruth's single season HR record. He also knows that shortly after it occurred (1961, of course), the U.S. was in the middle of a missile crisis with Cuba. Teach about significant statisitcal events, and relate them to what was going on in world politics at the time. He knows that certain players (such as Ted Williams) missed years off the primes of their careers to serve in WWII. Do children of non-sports fans know about the sacrifices those individuals made for our country?


Sports Math:

Q: What is [(Joey Harrington) x (Artose Pinner)]?
A: Hank Fraley

Q: [(Steve Yzerman + Steve Yzerman) - (Nate Robertson)]?
A: Chauncey Billups


Q: [(Joey Harrington x Dale earnhardt, jr.) + (Jeff Gordon) - (Jimmie Johnson)]?
A: Robert Parish

I taught my son basic arithmetic, and have begun to give him more advanced questions using uniform numbers. It makes math fun, but more importantly, he is developing the capacity for abstract reasoning skills, which will help him when he gets a choice of going to Boston (Harvard), Ann Arbor (U of Michigan) or New Haven (Yale). 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.

As my son gets older, he will be smarter, more knowledgeable, have the capacity for more abstract reasoning skills, have a better grasp of our history, get along with other kids (of both similar and diverse backgrounds), have an appreciation for what he has, understand rules, laws, and ethics, and be a psychologically, emotionally, physically, and spiritually healthy human being who has the learning and memory style best suited to withstanding the deficits that come with aging.

Oh, and one more thing. Sports is life.