Not Plato? Count the Ways.

Oh, Andy Reid.

Coach of the team I love dearly.  Part genius, part conundrum.  Your brilliance and stupidity have made me love you so.  As a philosophy student, how I have desired to critique you in a philosophical way.  You have the brashness of Nietzsche and the stoicism of Aurelius.  I can never pinpoint what you are, so as a good philosopher would do, I will offer what you aren’t.  I will agree with your theory that you are not Plato.  Furthermore, I will offer a critique as to why this is so.

The first comparison between Andy Reid and Plato must revolve around how we as measly humans have come in touch with their ideas.  Plato wrote dialogues, many of them chronicling what Socrates’ did, but the gist of the dialogues was to enlighten readers to the point where the truth of life was revealed.  Andy Reid has press conferences, many of them chronicling the evolution of the cough and the gist of them is to do everything possible to avoid enlightening everyone that listens.  Plato sought the light of truth.  Reid loves the darkness.

In an extension of the dialog/press conference example, it is important to know that in Plato’s dialogues the Socratic Method is often used.  This method involves asking a person questions so that they may come up with their own conclusions, thereby realizing what it is that they truly believe about human nature as it pertains to life.  Andy Reid hates questions.  He gets bristly and disturbed whenever anything is called into question and simply deflects the questions away until he reaches a point where he can cough which is supposed to signify, “Next question, if you really have the intestinal fortitude to ask one.”

Another sharp contrast between the two men relates to how unique their ideas truly were.  For Plato, this is sometimes called into question.  It’s not known whether Plato actually had any dialogues which were unique to his own mind, many feel that he simply plagiarized whatever Socrates did and took credit for it.  With Reid, there is no questioning where his ideas come from.  Although he too is a pupil of a great teacher in Mike Holmgren, there is little doubt that his theory of holding onto all of his timeouts so he can spend them at halftime are his and his alone.   

Plato believed in the idea that human beings have a recollection of ideas and forms.  The human mind in his opinion, could recall things that they may never have learned, a type of knowledge independent from experience (a priori is the philosophical term).  This is a bit tricky.  Reid seemingly has no recollection of things that have happened in the past.  For instance, he has been a head coach for over eleven seasons.  In all of those seasons, his approach towards any type of short yardage situation is one that is unsuccessful.  Yet, the same situations seem to pop up at the most inconvenient times and the same answers are applied.  It would seem that his recollection is flawed.  However, an objection to such an idea could be easily made.  It could be assumed that Reid has all knowledge without experience, and was born with an innate sense of ignorance to the running game, therefore leaving him without any type of reasoning to change his approach.   While the argument is certainly compelling, I will stick to my belief that Reid has no capability of recollection.  Especially not in reference to the form of third and short.

Although these are only some of many possible illustrations to show the differences between Plato and Andy Reid, they produce a compelling argument.  “I’m not Plato”, Andy said.  Got that right.

Please feel free to contact me at mtrible@thecheckingline.com or follow me on twitter.

The Long and Short of it

Apparently, Big Ben Roethlisberger got suspended.  I won’t begin to talk about whether or not the punishment fit the crime because I’m not Commandant Goodell.  I’m not even going to go into what may or may not have happened in club that night.  I’ve become so detached with the whole situation that the only thing I can wrap my head around is one of the most simple truths that exists in the world today.  People are idiots.

Not everyone is an idiot.  There are intelligent people around every corner, but we don’t read about those people.  We read what they have to say about the idiots.  We as fans may agree or disagree with their opinions, but they’ve done their research (for the most part) and allowed for the reading public to gain somewhat of an understanding of which way to sway.  Public copy is important, as it shapes who we are and what we may believe, but in the long run it really doesn’t matter.  Ben did what he did.  We beat it into the ground.  We will walk away.  Until the whisper of another problem with Ben occurs.  Then, we will race back to the scene of the crime, muddle up the evidence, spit on the scene and cry outrage.  I think we all need to get a grip.  Ben Roethlisberger doesn’t deserve my time of day, and he shouldn’t deserve yours either.

This isn’t just in regards to Roethlisberger.  The last media witch hunt was of the Tiger variety, and the coverage of that makes Ben’s problems look like a common cold.  With every woman who had ever hugged Woods (no pun intended) coming out and proclaiming infidelity, we became numb.  Instead of focusing on decisions Tiger made and how they coincided with his troubles, we focused on questions such as, ’how he could have handled his news conference better?’  ‘Can he really expect to make it back to the play in the Masters?’  ‘Is sex addiction a real thing?’  ‘How many women was it?!’ I could go on for days.  The bottom line is that all the follow-up questions killed the main story.  The man was an idiot.  Type it, Print it, Sell it.  Except it probably wouldn’t have sold for weeks on end.  The resulting aftermath did.  And will probably continue to do so.  Coincidence? In bizarro world, maybe.  My problem with it is that when the media aftermath has finally been swept away, how many people will flip on the golf channel and marvel at Tiger’s brilliance with a 5 iron?  Instead of saying, “If he could only read his vows the way he reads putts, I’d have the utmost respect for the man.”  If we find out Tiger has been the consummate father and husband after this incident, we should salute that.  However, nothing on a golf course should be able to excuse his idiocy.  Not at Augusta, not at Quail Hollow, not ever.

I understand we all make mistakes.  I’ve made my fair share of them.  Some big, some not so big.  However, continuing to sleep with other women when married or refusing to put yourself in good situations over and over again are not mistakes.

No, those things fall under the category of being an idiot.