Sometimes lacking in intelligence can make you a better athlete. As we have seen in our book, intelligence can play very little role in succeeding at sports. Although Rodney’s brain has been severely damaged by his cocaine addiction, he can still play baseball, arguably the most difficult sport to master, at a very high level. I believe his ability is enhanced by his reduced intelligence. He can step up to the plate and hit without ever over thinking the situation: “He doesn’t feel pressure. He doesn’t even understand that others do. Its what makes him so good” (72). I can relate to this as a baseball player. Often when I set up to the plate to hit, I find myself thinking about all the possible outcomes of my at-bat. Thoughts like, “If I single up the middle I’ll get two more RBIs or if I groundout to the right side I can advance the runners or if I strike out looking Sweeney will be ticked off at me” swirl in my head as I am about to attempt to do the most difficult action in sports. I find that I am most successful when I “dumb it down” a bit and clear my head of all thought. Players like Rodney can hit without even thinking about not thinking. I believe that this is what makes players like Rodney, Manny Ramirez and Josh Hamilton so good. They can go up to the plate without their thoughts distracting them and holding them back from doing the simple task at hand: hitting the ball.
Jimmy, I agree with your thoughts on just clearing your head and sometimes I wish I was like Rodney too. In basketball I often over think what I'm doing and end up making dumb mistakes because I'm thinking and not playing. Likewise, I have also noticed some players in my league that might possibly have the intelligence of Rodney. I won't mention any names but I remember one player who had to be reminded by his teammates to stay behind the foul line until the ball hits the rim. A simple rule of basketball learned in third grade, not high school varsity basketball. Yet this player was still very successful despite his intelligence.
ReplyDelete