Sunday Afternoon Musings

So, no surprise here, but the Buffalo Bills are playing terrible football.  Happens when the quarterback waits to throw the ball, while his offensive line disintegrates like a glass bowl swept off a buffet table.  Terrible stuff.

Anyways, speaking of sports, why do we like them so much?  Is it because we have a desire to attain excellence in terms of physical feats?  Probably.  There is so much that humans can accomplish, yet do not, because of the trouble that it takes to do it.  Animals, on the other hand, only do these things because of necessity or need.  For example, in the wild, no deer trains for escape from predators, but only goes about this action because of an immediate need: the imminent attack and the necessity of escape.  Even dog or horse racing (and dog fighting, even) takes training, but because a human places the need upon the animal for training to win.  In short, no animal voluntarily signs up for high school football.

Humans, however, have the ultimate choice whether or not to engage in sports.  Even in a primitive civilization, sports are still ways to prepare, train, and compete.  Most people do not try racing after prey; we see and understand our limitations as compared to much more athletic animals.  However, given the decent levels of parity between humanity, it is worthy to challenge each other in sports.  The stress and intensity of the battle between people occurs on two levels, physical and mental.

The physical is obvious.  Whoever trains well, combined with bodily talent, ends up victorious...except when the mental portion comes into the fight.

Mental strength, or willpower, is the type of force that can actually transcend physical pain.  This can raise the body's ability to act beyond its normal parameters.  Similar to an adrenaline rush, a positive attitude ("believing in yourself") helps release positive endorphins and set the body to perform at the very peak of its ability.  This can be the difference between a simply average day of athletic performance, and amazing work.  It helps underdogs defeat heavily favored opponents.  Of course, at one point or another, the body will break down, and no amount of will can force it to do any more.

In a way, though, the mind is the final word in terms of how an athlete ends up performing, because the mind decides the training routines, and whether the body will follow it correctly or even at all.  Therefore, a good athlete must have strength of purpose, and a powerful will, that allows him to defeat his body's cries to stop, and proceed to the finish line of success.