The human mind. How does it work? How does it process, learn, retain and find information? We know that rote learning plays a process but when does a random fact become a memory or something that we can harvest at a moment’s notice? I actually, to my detriment, attempted a test of this in the last few months. (This is going towards sports I promise you) As many of you know I play trivia a few times a week and can generally hold my own across a multitude of subjects. I don’t have kids thus I have time to read up on presidential history and just generally any topic that I know will arise one of these nights. In that vein when David Cameron stepped down I knew that one of these trivia nights I would be asked who the new prime minister of England is. What did I do? Instead of committing that fact to memory I decided to let the new PM’s name absorb into my mind over TV, articles, conversation, most anything that does not involve active memorization. And of course it did not work. The question was asked. I could not remember. And I cursed myself. Apparently Americans and anything I read or people I talk to do not care about the current British PM. Thus I (we) came in second. The answer is Theresa May by the way.
OK finally I get to the sports portion of this article and how the mind works and what a great question precipitated this article. Great questions are of course relative. A lot of people including readers here will not care but I digress. I was texted during the Red Sox game how many Division 1A football teams have a nickname that does not end in ‘S’. Great question Mike Ferris. (Send in questions for an article) Anyone that knows that top of mind needs to be called the Schwab if you remember that show from 15 years ago. And that’s not a good thing. So where do you begin with that answer? The Big 5 of course. A few minutes to knock that out, 60 or so teams across the 5 conferences. Got it, no problem. And why did I get it? If you follow big-time college football you know there are 5 conferences and the schools in them are well-known, frequently on TV, discussed in the national media and berated for leaving conferences at times. The Big 10 for example has had its core members for eons so it’s really just a matter of remembering who were the last few schools to join a conference. But the fact is since that information is so prevalent to anyone that pays a modicum of attention it has a much better chance of seeping into the brain.
By the way those schools are:
Syracuse, Illinois, Stanford, Alabama, Notre Dame and NC St. So that’s 6! 7 actually since NC. St. (Wolfpack) automatically kicked off a reference to the Nevada Wolfpack. How the mind makes connections. Also, Ferris did not tell me how many teams there were so I did not have a finite place to stop.
So now its on to the other conferences. We have the Sunbelt, the Mountain West, is the WAC still a conference? Yes, I think it is. Oh and the Big East or the AAC or whatever that conference is called now. Well, that leaves 60 or so teams to go through with my self-imposed limit of 20 minutes. Well I put pen to paper and tried to go through those conferences and talk about a miserable failure. I could not quickly name the new Big East teams or the teams in Conference USA. I could not arrange or serialize the teams in these secondary conferences in an orderly fashion. So 15 minutes in with only seven answers I had to rectify the situation. Probably should have found another way before but stubbornness in matching teams to conferences prevailed. Before I get to the concluding 5 minutes of this endeavor I want to underscore why this is difficult. With the incessant shuffling of schools to conferences and the perplexing number of schools that play Division 1 whose alumni you may never meet; I’m looking at you South Alabama, then it is no wonder I couldn’t get through this. There really is no compelling reason to learn these facts as it should not effect, improve or diminish your lot in life. However, the question can still be answered.
How else can I answer it or at least how else can I give myself a chance to obtain these answers? Go state by state. What other teams can I remember if I start from the Northeast? Maine nothing .. NH ..nothing ..VT, RI, MASS and Connecticut. Hey UMASS has a football team, The Minutemen! Alright there is 1 answer. Now up to 8.
So on to Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Delaware, Maryland… oooh there is one, the Middies (Annapolis) have a team, thanks Navy! 9! So now I voyage on to West Virginia, the Carolinas, Georgia, Florida and now back to Alabama and cruising west to Texas. We have the Mountaineers, my NC State Wolfpack, Georgia Southern, East Carolina. Nope nothing there. Florida Atlantic, Florida International. The Owls and Panthers I believe are the name of those last 2. I feel I skipped over a team as I went down the eastern seaboard. Lets go back up. I thought of East Carolina any other small schools? Marshall! The Thundering Herd. 10!
OK 2 minutes left… Bama, Mississippi. Louisiana has the Cajuns, La Monroe .. Louisinia Shreveport? Is that a school? New Orleans. Tulane! 11! Hopefully there aren’t many more teams because time has almost elapsed. I know Texas and Ohio have a ton of teams. Akron (Zips) , Houston (Cougars). Bowling Green (Falcons) , Toledo.. UTEP, Kent St. I am done with Ohio. I know where Cleveland, Cincinnati and Columbus are. And I know Toledo is on Route 90 from a few cross country trips but I can’t navigate that states’ geography. Texas. TCU, Rice… Aahh. Once again too big. Go north. Ok, OK St. Tulsa! The Golden Hurricane. 12! I am done. I have wasted too much time doing this. The Red Sox are losing game 1, my crockpot recipe needs to be started and I need to see how I did. I missed 1. I will let you look it up. Its in Texas for what that’s worth.
Therefore when trying to find an answer to any question there are several ways you can get there. You just have to understand how your mind makes connections for you to retrieve that info.
Quiz for the day. See how long it takes you to name every team in the NFL. I bet you start with the divisions. I asked 2 colleagues this a few months back and the winner did it in 5 minutes and 40 seconds. Good luck!
posted by oceanjay @ 6:04 PM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home