It’s 3 o’clock. Just 15 minutes to go. School is about to end. Yet another day in the third grade comes to a close.
The bell rings.
Jimmy and his friends scream from the bottom of their lungs. The sprint out the door. They catch the bus and go home.
Jimmy does his homework, completes his chores, watches cartoons, and goes to sleep.
One day goes by. Then another. And another.
The same cycle repeats.
20 years later, Jimmy becomes a successful banker.
Jimmy Anderson, Financial Analyst
****
Michael is one of the most popular students at his university.
He has an INSANE daily schedule.
He wakes up at 4 AM, studies for his midterms, eats breakfast, and goes to marching band practice swiftly at 6:30.
It’s 9 AM now, which means it is lecture time.
He focuses on his classes, finishes his homework during lunch, peruses world history brooks at the library, and takes a short break for some delightful coffee.
At 3 PM, he goes to his entrepreneurship club. To finish off his day, he decides to volunteer at the Food Bank.
He later catches the 9 PM train while he studies some more before he reaches home and crashes on his couch at 10:30 PM.
10 years later, Michael gets a coveted job at the United Nations headquarters.
Michael Jordan, US Policy Analyst, Diplomat in Training.
****
Roger is a doctor.
Serena is an engineer.
Rafael is a lawyer.
Novak is a successful businessman.
Roger spends his entire life in Switzerland. Serena spends her entire life in the United States.
Rafael spends his entire life in Spain, and you guessed it—Novak spends his entire life in Serbia.
Roger Federer, Serena Williams, Novak Djokovic, and Rafael Nadal never cross paths in their entire lives.
****
We can have our endless debates—Who was the greatest of all-time? Michael Jordan? LeBron James? Or was it Kobe Bryant?
We can have our mindless fan wars. Kohli vs Rohit vs Dhoni.
We can have our arguing, fighting, and grappling. We can have our podcasts, pre-match analysis, post-match analysis, stories & tributes, the numbers game, and the statistical predictions.
But for once, just once, imagine if this all went away on a whim.
Imagine a world without sports.
Just imagine and think—can be just take a step back for once, reflect, and be grateful for what we do have?
What does sports means to you? How would life have been different without it? Comment Below.
If you like these types of articles, you may like:
Title: Mind and Matter: A Life in Math and Football
Authors: John Urschel and Louisa Thomas
Pages: 238
Chapters: 28
Publisher: Penguin Press, New York, 2019
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Rating: 5 out of 5.
Mind and Matter Summary
This book is a goldmine for people who like mathematics, college football, sports, and reading in general.
For the mathematician, there are mentions of John von Neumann, Pascal, Fermat, Heisenberg, Bernoulli, Schrodinger, Kolmogorov, Leibniz, Newton, Godel, G.H. Hardy, Einstein and brief dives into the topics of probability, dynamical systems, Markov Chains, physics, measure theory, gambling, game theory, linear algebra, numerical analysis, set theory, and logic. For the football fan, there are references to locker room talks, deep friendships, training drills, college football season, tryouts, the NFL draft, CTE, concussions, injuries, and more.
Urschel reflects on the constant internal push and pull between doing mathematics and playing football. We learn how he developed these interests and navigated both spheres of his life without losing proficiency in either one. He ended up playing at the highest level in NFL with the Baltimore Ravens and completed his PhD in mathematics from MIT, specializing in linear algebra, graph theory, and numerical analysis. We also learn about important events that occurred during his education like the Jerry Sandusky scandal and how it impacted the Penn State community.
Quick Review
Two aspects that I really enjoyed were how (1) the writing style matched (2) the content of the book. The book seamlessly alternates between football and mathematics at different stages of his life. For example, he talks about Concussion in one chapter and moves on to Heisenberg’s Uncertainty principle in the next. The length of each chapter ranges from 4-15 pages, making it an accessible read.
I definitely recommend Mind and Matter for all ages looking to pick up a short, fun, and inspirational book.
Quotes from “Mind and Matter: A Life in Math and Football”: 5 Life Lessons We Can Learn from John Urschel
Background
Let’s start with a little back story. My family gifted me this book on my birthday.
In my undergraduate years studying mathematics, Urschel’s poster hung outside the math department. For four years, I walked by it, the image slowly getting ingrained in the deep echelons of my memory. I always smiled when I saw it but did not give it much deep thought.
However, over the years, I have often been conflicted and never really come to terms with balancing my own interests, whether that is as a mathematician, sports enthusiast, programmer, teacher, writer, or as a violinist.
I am glad to have finally received the opportunity to read this book, which breathed life into Urschel’s poster and provided me with some topics of reflection. The perfect gift.
In any case, here are a few quotes and life lessons that stuck with me from John Urschel’s life.
1. “So often, people want to divide the world into two. Matter and energy. Wave and particle. Athlete and mathematician. Why can’t something (or someone) be both?”
At some point in our childhood, we have all been asked the question, “What do you want to be when you grow up?”
Humans are multi-dimensional creatures. Kids especially are innately curious and are fascinated by different sort of things like solving puzzles, running around, reading a book, etc.
But as we grow up, there is the societal narrative to pick a field, choose a profession, and sacrifice interests that will not result in monetary gain later on.
Life Lesson 1: You can be a jack of many trades. You can be a master of one. Life is about choices and there really isn’t a right or wrong way. You can go the route of John Urschel, Justin Timberlake, Albert Einstein, Farhan Akhtar, Elon Musk or the way of Michael Phelps, Sachin Tendulkar, and John Nash. Be curious, be yourself. Why limit yourself to one sky when you can explore many galaxies?
2. “Nothing made me want to take that class more than being told that I couldn’t do it. That was my nature. If someone thought I wasn’t up for something, then I had to show them wrong.”
The only way to reach the peak is to overcome the struggle.
Stressing is bad, but struggling can be good.
Life Lesson 2: Challenges can be daunting, but they have the potential to mold you into the person you want to become. Take the extrinsic negative noise and convert it into positive intrinsic motivation. A ‘can do’ attitude is the way to go.
3. “I decided to stay. I did not know what would happen to the football team… But I loved Penn State, and I loved my teammates. I wasn’t going to walk away.”
I’ll jump directly into the life lesson on this one.
Life Lesson 3: Friendships and relationships are often the strongest bonds and the easiest ones to break. When someone close to you is in need, be there for them. Make time for your loved ones regardless of how busy you are. Send a quick text or give them a call.
4. “I wanted challenges. I liked the feeling of being tested—even if I disliked the tests we took at school.” Improvement did not always come easily. It took work. But there was nothing like realizing that what had seemed hard before now seemed easier, or that what I had done badly before I could now do well. Solving problems like the Einstein puzzle gave me satisfaction and clarity I rarely felt anywhere else. It gave me a sense of purpose. It gave me a sense of power.”
Similar to #2 but with a slight distinction.
Challenges are a common theme in Urschel’s journey, but here he stresses that these challenges came from within. Hence, overcoming them was more satisfying.
Life Lesson 4: If you do things that you enjoy, then even the greatest of challenges become child’s play.
5. “He was struck by the diligence and determination that brought to the work—or make me want to work even harder. ‘It is fascinating to see your progress and enthusiasm..'”
And finally, whatever you do, do it with a smile!
Life Lesson 5: Hardwork is good, but do you know what is even better? Hardwork plus enthusiasm.If you work with a smile, this will provide positive energy to those around you. A win-win situation.
Bonus: Relationship Between Math & Football by John Urschel
Here are a few quotes from John Urschel’s Path to Math& NFL film interviews that shed light into both of his topics of interest.
“Football helped my math career in a number of ways. In football, you’re constantly being challenged, every single day. You’re being knocked down and you have to get up, constantly fight back. Build this sense of resiliency. That has helped me in my math, the resiliency. Even when I try 99 things and I fail, I still try the 100th time. Stay curious.
“Math certainly defines football. Football is a game of numbers, and this governed by math. The physics going on, the forces, the momentums, the passes, the kicks, the catches, this is all mathematics….Every football player is just like a math formula in a way…My quantitative thinking is what helps me see what [the opposition does] and immediately know what I’m supposed to do.”
“The biggest similarity is intuition. In mathematics, intuition is a really strong thing that can help you. In football, you need instincts to make split second decisions.”
And finally, I am going to leave you with this one really cool fact: He wears #64 on the field, “a perfect square and perfect cube. A true mathematician’s number.”
John Urschel is famous for simultaneously pursuing professional careers in football and mathematics. He went to the highest level with the Baltimore Ravens in the NFL an became a professor of mathematics.
How did John Urschel Contribute to Mathematics?
John Urschel’s contributions have been in spectral graph theory, linear algebra, and numerical analysis among others. The Spectral Bisection of Graphs and Connectedness is one of his searly significant mathematical contributions.
Why did John Urschel Retire?
John Urschel retired because he wanted to focus on mathematics full-time and give time to his daughter and family. There was also an additional layer of concern with concussion he had suffered earlier.
In our childhood, we have all dreamt of playing sports at one time or another, whether that is cricket, football, basketball, tennis, etc.
But then, life happens. We can all relate.
As a motivation to our website, Broken Cricket Dreams, we started a #BrokenDreams on Twitter to share our broken cricket or sports stories. Some stories might be hilarious, while other more injurious and serious.
Who knows, maybe by sharing these stories and looking back, some deep down wounds can be healed. In any case, sit back, enjoy, and comment below on your broken dreams stories!
“Made 3rd grade as an 18-year old, despite a shortened season due to a stress fracture in my foot. So, was looking forward to the next season, until a badly torn hamstring and regular injuries resulted in me having to stop playing.” #BrokenDreams
“It was during the first year in college. After training hard for 6 months, didn’t get picked in the squad due to politics and favoritism” #Brokendreams
“Didn’t realize my love for basketball until later in high school. Missed playing on team and missed watching so much of 2000s Lakers/Spurs/Celtics. Missed out on prime AI, Kobe, KG, Tim, Shaq, Yao, Nash, and T-Mac.”#Brokendreams
6. M. Borrie
“My broken dream in cricket, can’t bat, bowl, or field! Just sticking to the spectator seat for the summer of cricket! NZ playing continue to play great cricket. Test matches, ODIs, T20s – now good at all of them!”
More Such Stories – Coming Soon!
What Can We Learn?
I hope you had a laugh or even a tear drop. Maybe we all could not become professional sports players. Maybe just a random cricket blogger or a fan (me). Or chose another profession-engineer and artists, or doctors and musicians, or started our own business.
But that is completely okay! We should not have regrets.
Everyone has his or her own journey, and we should appreciate life just as it is. Just look back, smile, and enjoy the small moments.
Anyway, send in your stories, and we will publish it on your next iteration of Twitter Specials: Broken Dreams. Follow us on twitter, please subscribe below to our blog, and share along!
