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Second Thoughts
Why Sports Matter: More Than Just a Game
Sports aren’t just for entertainment—they shape culture, community, and even mental health. In this episode, we explore how physical activity does more than boost endorphins; it can heal the brain, alleviate depression, and build resilience. From the scholar-athlete ideal to the unifying power of cheering for a team, sports offer benefits beyond the playing field.
But when did sports become a battleground for politics? We break down how powerful figures have co-opted sports for their own agendas, from Nazi propaganda to modern-day controversies. Join us for a deep dive into why sports continue to captivate, inspire, and divide us.
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So physical activity not only alleviates.
Speaker 2:Depression at or above the rates.
Speaker 1:Of.
Speaker 2:Antidepressants.
Speaker 1:But it also heals.
Speaker 2:Your brain. If you want to get smarter.
Speaker 1:Maybe not the.
Speaker 2:Smarter, but if you want your brain to operate better, you should.
Speaker 1:Be physically active. You know the.
Speaker 2:Scholar athlete.
Speaker 1:Thing. You know, you may be had in high school where.
Speaker 2:The person was both good at sports and good at athletics.
Speaker 1:And academics. That person really had it going on.
Speaker 2:The person who never.
Speaker 1:Lifted a finger but was really.
Speaker 2:Really smart.
Speaker 1:Long term will not be as effective.
Speaker 2:Because our.
Speaker 1:Bodies are designed to support.
Speaker 2:Our brain.
Speaker 1:And the more we move our body, the.
Speaker 2:More it improves our brains.
Speaker 3:So let's talk a little bit then about the importance of sports to one culture. We have seen sport all throughout different cultures all the way back to ancient times. I mean, even like primitive so-called primitive cultures such as the, some South American civilizations and, and island tribes have sports. What are some of the benefits to these communities that sports offers?
Speaker 1:Well, I think the benefits of.
Speaker 2:Sports are what we're.
Speaker 1:Seeing, in our society. You know, I think we have one up over the Aztecs.
Speaker 2:In our sports, that.
Speaker 1:The losing team is not killed. So that's a plus. But but what what.
Speaker 2:Sports.
Speaker 1:Do is they unite people.
Speaker 2:Around.
Speaker 1:A kind of.
Speaker 2:Entertainment.
Speaker 1:Athletics. Watching athletics is a.
Speaker 2:Kind of entertainment that there's there's.
Speaker 1:A a struggle. And human beings love to watch that struggle. And and you look at it and you think, okay, this this is our capacity as humans. Not my.
Speaker 2:Capacity personally.
Speaker 1:But this is what we can aspire to. And I think we all.
Speaker 2:Get a great deal.
Speaker 1:Of enjoyment of watching the best of people.
Speaker 2:I like the term glory.
Speaker 1:And I'm going to define it differently than most people define it. You know, mostly when you think about.
Speaker 2:Glory, you think about sparkles or.
Speaker 1:In a spotlight. But,
Speaker 2:A person taught.
Speaker 1:Me this definition.
Speaker 2:Glory is the.
Speaker 1:Full expression of a thing, and it's a really.
Speaker 2:Important way to.
Speaker 1:Define it, the full expression of a thing. So when you see an athlete.
Speaker 2:In his or her.
Speaker 1:Prime doing something that none of us, well, very few of us could ever do. We see the full expression of that human in that activity, and that's glory. And human beings.
Speaker 2:Are attracted.
Speaker 1:To both the the vile but, you know, awful things.
Speaker 2:But we're also.
Speaker 1:Drawn to.
Speaker 2:Glory. We're we're the.
Speaker 1:Watching the best of something. And the.
Speaker 2:Greek word for that.
Speaker 1:Was arreté, which means the highest. The highest qualities of a thing. And humans love that. I mean, we like that.
Speaker 2:That's one of the purposes for sports.
Speaker 1:So we we.
Speaker 2:Gather around in a.
Speaker 1:Communal activity. We put we often historically have put.
Speaker 2:Aside our differences.
Speaker 1:To be unified.
Speaker 2:Around.
Speaker 1:Our allegiance to a team. We watch people do things that we admire and we have fun. So, so.
Speaker 2:Sports.
Speaker 1:As an.
Speaker 2:Observer, are great.
Speaker 1:Sports and athletics in general as a participant are good for us. If we look at physical activity and we'll we'll distinguish exercise physical activity from sports. But there we'll.
Speaker 2:Start with.
Speaker 1:One and then we'll expand it.
Speaker 2:Into sports.
Speaker 1:Exercise reduces.
Speaker 2:Depression.
Speaker 1:And anxiety as much or.
Speaker 2:More.
Speaker 1:Than antidepressants. So the effect size, which.
Speaker 2:Means over.
Speaker 1:Lots and lots of people, they'll get the same.
Speaker 2:Improvement from mild to moderate depression by exercising, which is free.
Speaker 1:Relative to antidepressants. So you go to a physician's office and they'll immediately.
Speaker 2:Prescribe you.
Speaker 1:Antidepressants, but they will not.
Speaker 2:Prescribe exercise. And I remember talking.
Speaker 1:To this old school psychiatrist, I said, you know, what do you prescribe in these days? Which, by the way, is not a.
Speaker 2:Good conversation starter.
Speaker 1:And he said.
Speaker 2:I never prescribe an antidepressant until the person.
Speaker 1:Tells me.
Speaker 2:That they're on a regular.
Speaker 1:Physical.
Speaker 2:Exercise.
Speaker 1:Regimen because he knew. And this was back in the 1980s. He knew that exercise was as effective as antidepressants. So that's one benefit. The other benefit is, you know, we talk about endorphins. That's just one of the sets of chemicals.
Speaker 2:That your body releases when you're exercising. Naturally occurring endorphins are.
Speaker 1:Endorphins more endogenous morphemes.
Speaker 2:So they're pain relievers.
Speaker 1:But you get.
Speaker 2:Your brain and.
Speaker 1:Your body gets a a host.
Speaker 2:Of other chemicals.
Speaker 1:That get released. One of which is.
Speaker 2:Brain derived neurotrophic factor.
Speaker 1:And when you exercise to the point of sweating, it releases BDF.
Speaker 2:Brain derived neurotrophic factor into your system.
Speaker 1:And that's the chemical that.
Speaker 2:Grows your brain. It repairs your brain.
Speaker 1:So physical activity not only alleviates depression at.
Speaker 2:Or above the rates.
Speaker 1:Of.
Speaker 2:Antidepressants.
Speaker 1:But it also heals.
Speaker 2:Your brain.
Speaker 1:And so that if you want to.
Speaker 2:Get smarter.
Speaker 1:Maybe not.
Speaker 2:Smarter, but if you want your brain to operate better, you.
Speaker 1:Should be physically active. You know, the the.
Speaker 2:Scholar athlete.
Speaker 1:Thing, you know, you maybe had in high school where.
Speaker 2:The person was both good at sports and good at athletics or.
Speaker 1:And academics or.
Speaker 2:That person really.
Speaker 1:Had it going on.
Speaker 2:The person who never.
Speaker 1:Lifted.
Speaker 2:A finger.
Speaker 1:But was really.
Speaker 2:Really smart.
Speaker 1:Long term will not be as effective because our our bodies are designed to support our brain. And the more we move our body, the.
Speaker 2:More it improves our brain.
Speaker 1:Yeah. Now, I know there will be a lot of blowback on this, and I've gotten it all the time. So what you're saying is, you know, you should stop your antidepressants. No, no, no, no, don't stop it. Talk to your physician about it.
Speaker 2:But if you're on antidepressants.
Speaker 1:You should start.
Speaker 2:Exercising. And if you're.
Speaker 1:If you're unhappy, if you have mild.
Speaker 2:To moderate depression, exercise is a good first step.
Speaker 1:Again, I'm not a physician. I'm not I. And I'm not saying what's.
Speaker 2:Right for any.
Speaker 1:Individual. I'm not making specific medical advice because I'm not a physician. But I am talking about what the data show and the data.
Speaker 2:Is pretty.
Speaker 1:Robust. What does it take for someone to be so focused on a singular goal, like an Olympian? It takes a special kind of mindset.
Speaker 2:There's there's no.
Speaker 1:Lack of there's no lack of physical talent in in elite athletes of any kind. There that that's kind of like table stakes. That's that's just that's just the.
Speaker 2:Entry to the party.
Speaker 1:But the really exceptional ones are the ones who.
Speaker 2:Really work on their.
Speaker 1:Mental performance. You know, one.
Speaker 2:Of my favorite philosophers and favorite.
Speaker 1:Quotes is Yogi.
Speaker 2:Berra.
Speaker 1:And he said, 90% of baseball is mental.
Speaker 2:The other half is physical.
Speaker 1:So not so good on math, but really good at the principle that 90% of athletics is mental and one of my classmates is now the head of the US Olympic Committee's.
Speaker 2:Sports psychology.
Speaker 1:Program, and what she does and.
Speaker 2:What her.
Speaker 1:Team does is help these athletes to to achieve peak mental.
Speaker 2:Performance.
Speaker 1:This is my language.
Speaker 2:Is not her language.
Speaker 1:So please don't, you know, don't put anything.
Speaker 2:On her that I've.
Speaker 1:Said. But people come to me all the time and they say, well, you know, these are my successful, business clients. And they say, well, I'm a little obsessive compulsive. I've, you know, I've got some OCD. And I said, well, you may have OCD, I don't know, but you probably have. Okay. So obsessive compulsive.
Speaker 2:Disorder is really a problem. And when I did clinical work it was one of my areas of specialty.
Speaker 1:I watched people, you know, severely.
Speaker 2:Distressed.
Speaker 1:By these obsessive ideas that they couldn't get over with. Okay. Is the obsessive compulsive advantage when you have it in the right amounts, being conscientious and being driven and being having attention to detail and being deliberate. All of those things make you successful. And so we see these athletes. I think most of them have to have a little bit of the what I call the obsessive compulsive advantage. They're conscientious.
Speaker 2:They're deliberate.
Speaker 1:They,
Speaker 2:They're they're really driven to achieve.
Speaker 1:What sports gives us is the all the benefits of exercise plus the benefits of a community. And so if you're.
Speaker 2:Part of an.
Speaker 1:Athletic team.
Speaker 2:Even if you're in an individual sport, like if you're a golfer or a marathoner, you know, high school cross-country, you're still part of a.
Speaker 1:Team.
Speaker 2:That trains together. Even though your accomplishment is individual.
Speaker 1:So you gain the benefit of that community of like minded people. And having that community of like minded people is.
Speaker 2:A protective.
Speaker 1:Against a lot.
Speaker 2:Of other problems.
Speaker 1:So athletics gives you the physical activity plus the community together.
Speaker 2:They're fantastic.
Speaker 3:Do you think here in America we, put a little bit too much emphasis on sports?
Speaker 1:No, I mean, I think I think, I think there's always a subset of people who have a pathological.
Speaker 2:Relationship.
Speaker 1:To anything good. But I think the net positive of athletics and.
Speaker 2:Sports.
Speaker 1:Outweighs the negative. And if you think people in the United States are nuts about.
Speaker 2:Sports.
Speaker 1:That's because you don't follow World Cup.
Speaker 2:Soccer or.
Speaker 1:Football, as they say in the rest of the world. That they're far more,
Speaker 2:They're far more rabid.
Speaker 1:In other.
Speaker 2:Countries about their national sport.
Speaker 1:I was in England and, if you know, I was in Manchester.
Speaker 2:And they said, if you're wearing the wrong scarf.
Speaker 1:For, you know, in Manchester, you could get yourself.
Speaker 2:Beat up pretty.
Speaker 1:Badly. And make sure you know.
Speaker 2:Even your clothes were.
Speaker 1:Not those.
Speaker 2:Colors.
Speaker 3:Yep. Sports really lately have been settings for controversy and a lot of politicization, which, yeah, people do not appreciate. On either side. Why do you think these have cropped up in our sporting community here in North America? And I mean, how have we allowed them to even become, centerpieces on the world stage, like, we thought the Olympics this past, weekend?
Speaker 2:It's all driven.
Speaker 1:By ideology and money. If you gather a collection of people for anything, there will always be people who co-opt that.
Speaker 2:Gathering for their.
Speaker 1:Own benefit. And, sometimes people in positions of power forget their purpose.
Speaker 2:And really, sports.
Speaker 1:Is.
Speaker 2:To entertain.
Speaker 1:And to help people connect. And when they forget, that's our job and decide that it should be something else. That's when people feel.
Speaker 2:Betrayed.
Speaker 1:And, and so sometimes the messages are good. So long as is those who organized sports.
Speaker 2:Remember, hey, our job.
Speaker 1:Is.
Speaker 2:To.
Speaker 1:Entertain and help people feel connected. That's a valuable enough thing.
Speaker 2:To provide.
Speaker 1:People. It doesn't have to be more than that. That's the job of.
Speaker 2:Sports is to create.
Speaker 1:A good feeling among people. And that's valuable enough. I think any time someone has an agenda and wants to push it, they will find.
Speaker 2:Wherever.
Speaker 1:Eyeballs gather.
Speaker 2:So you'll see it in sports.
Speaker 1:You'll see it in, music. You'll see it in movies. Any of the entertainment, disciplines is where you'll see that, because that's where people.
Speaker 2:Gather.
Speaker 1:And they want.
Speaker 2:To relax.
Speaker 1:They want to, they want to enjoy themselves. And there are people who think that's not enough. We have we have to teach. We have to train. We have to inculcate with values.
Speaker 3:It's hard to push back in the moment, right? Especially as a crowd. So I feel like some of these groups are taking advantage of the big gathering and implying almost that this big gathering is totally okay with the message that they're pushing and only receive the backlash later after. It's almost, you know, there's there's not much to do about it.
Speaker 1:We see.
Speaker 2:This in sports going.
Speaker 1:Back to to the 19.
Speaker 2:40s.
Speaker 1:And 1930s. And we'll go to the Olympics in Germany in the 19.
Speaker 2:30s.
Speaker 1:That that was using it as a showcase for his Nazi, ideology. And the.
Speaker 2:Wonderful thing.
Speaker 1:And I'm going to talk about, you know, one of, you know, I grew up in Columbus, Ohio.
Speaker 2:One of our local.
Speaker 1:Hometown heroes was Jesse Owens. And I don't know if you know that that history, but if you don't, you're really sure Jesse Owens, was a black man? And he he ran, for Ohio State, which is my alma mater.
Speaker 2:And he ran.
Speaker 1:In Germany and all of the, the, you know, white supremacist Aryan stuff said, you know, he he can't be successful. And yet he won. He had this phenomenal, he had this phenomenal performance and he won, which was great for the United States, but also great to.
Speaker 2:Disprove.
Speaker 1:The the white supremacist ideology. And so we see.
Speaker 2:In sports ways.
Speaker 1:To go against that propaganda. But I guess my.
Speaker 2:My larger point.
Speaker 1:Is powerful people have always used.
Speaker 2:Sports.
Speaker 1:To, to to get an agenda across. We saw it with the Soviets, during the Soviet Union and how they use.
Speaker 2:Sports to talk about this, the superiority.
Speaker 1:Of the Soviet ideology, because they were dominant in so many different.
Speaker 2:Sports.
Speaker 1:We see it all the time as as a way to enhance an ideology. We're always going to see it. I think there's been some damage done in the last decade.
Speaker 2:To professional athletics.
Speaker 1:And I think, there's been some damage done to.
Speaker 2:Amateur athletics.
Speaker 1:By forgetting.
Speaker 2:Our.
Speaker 1:You know, if.
Speaker 2:You're in the sports business, you're there to entertain the.
Speaker 1:People who are watching because you do something that is really, fantastic. So that's enough. Maybe.