snap culture: The Cubs have made me stronger, or weaker, or whatever

The Cubs have made me stronger, or weaker, or whatever

4/02/2008 Add a comment

An op-ed in the Times describes the benefits of willpower thusly:

[C]onsistently doing any activity that requires self-control seems to increase willpower — and the ability to resist impulses and delay gratification is highly associated with success in life.

And then there's this from George Will:

The sometimes terrible truth is that being a sports fan is a physical phenomenon as well as a psychological condition: It involves observable (with imaging technology) alterations of brain matter...."The scientific literature," Grafman says, "suggests that fans of losing teams turn out to be better decision-makers and deal better with divergent thought, as opposed to the unreflective fans of winning teams."

But there's a catch,

Studies of "induced sadness"—e.g., the brain activity of a person grieving about the end of a romantic relationship—might tell us something about a brain on Cubs....In fans, as in players, a team's success or failure can cause hormonal changes, particularly in the production of testosterone.

I guess I'll have to be satisfied with being successful (life-wise, not Cubs-wise) but not very macho. Now if you'll excuse me, I have some Cubs doilies to crochet. ben

snap culture

The Cubs have made me stronger, or weaker, or whatever

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