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John Urschel: The 300 Pound Mathematician Who Hits People For a Living
HughPickens.com writes: Kate Murphy writes at NYT about mathematician John Urschel whose latest contribution to the mathematical realm was a paper for the Journal of Computational Mathematics with the impressively esoteric title, "A Cascadic Multigrid Algorithm for Computing the Fiedler Vector of Graph Laplacians." "Believe me, I am aware that terms such as multigrid, Fiedler, and vector are not words that people use in their daily lives," says Urshel.
But as an offensive guard for the Baltimore Ravens, John Urschel regularly goes head to head with the top defensive players in the NFL and does his best to keep quarterback Joe Flacco out of harm's way. "I play because I love the game. I love hitting people," Urshel writes. "There's a rush you get when you go out on the field, lay everything on the line and physically dominate the player across from you. This is a feeling I'm (for lack of a better word) addicted to, and I'm hard-pressed to find anywhere else."
Urschel acknowledges that he has faced questions from NFL officials, journalists, fans and fellow mathematicians about why he runs the risk of potential brain injury from playing football when he has "a bright career ahead of me in mathematics" but doesn't feel able to quit. "When I go too long without physical contact I'm not a pleasant person to be around. This is why, every offseason, I train in kickboxing and wrestling in addition to my lifting, running and position-specific drill work."
But as an offensive guard for the Baltimore Ravens, John Urschel regularly goes head to head with the top defensive players in the NFL and does his best to keep quarterback Joe Flacco out of harm's way. "I play because I love the game. I love hitting people," Urshel writes. "There's a rush you get when you go out on the field, lay everything on the line and physically dominate the player across from you. This is a feeling I'm (for lack of a better word) addicted to, and I'm hard-pressed to find anywhere else."
Urschel acknowledges that he has faced questions from NFL officials, journalists, fans and fellow mathematicians about why he runs the risk of potential brain injury from playing football when he has "a bright career ahead of me in mathematics" but doesn't feel able to quit. "When I go too long without physical contact I'm not a pleasant person to be around. This is why, every offseason, I train in kickboxing and wrestling in addition to my lifting, running and position-specific drill work."
I prefer cycling and climbing myself; not really into hitting things/being hit. Sitting in a chair all the time isn't healthy.
For the rest of us no surprise at all. 40 years ago I studied graph theory with a professor that was also a competitive karate fighter.
Urschel acknowledges that he has faced questions from NFL officials, journalists, fans and fellow mathematicians about why he runs the risk of potential brain injury from playing football when he has "a bright career ahead of me in mathematics"
Funny how the NFL officials only care about potential brain injury on players who are good at math. If the risk of brain injury was truly that high, nobody should be playing it.
So I don't understand why this seems to come as a surprise to a lot of people. We're physical *and* mental beings, you need to exercise both aspects to be truly healthy IMO. However there do seem to be far to many people who focus on one to the exclusion of the other (and even more who don't focus on either but thats for another argument).
two years ago i took up tennis at the recommendation of a friend. before that i'd done tai ji, full-contact karate (shin kyu-kshin), long-distance skating (86 miles athens-to-atlanta 1999, 65 miles new york park 1999, 26 miles rotterdam 2006) and yoga (ashtanga and T.M Asanas). it's a big list of different physical activities, which have the following things in common:
* complex coordinated movement
* requiring or recommending very deep breathing (skating especially)
* very long and regular practice
the reason why i specifically love tennis is that in addition to these things it is necessary to not only be extremely physically fit but also, if you would like to win, you require strategy and planning both on and off the court. tennis is particularly harsh on the body in that it is a series of very short explosive sprints, standing still, *then* hitting the ball, and then doing it all over again.
also the types of movement required are *unbelievably* complex! serving involves *six* degrees of freedom of movement (x-y-z, rotation in x-y-z) in order to impart the maximum amount of inspired deviousness into a small yellow round object.
to fully understand why it was that, aged 44, i started this sport and now practice over an hour a day, you have to understand that prior to that i was sitting 12 hours a day in front of a computer screen: average distance approx 1 metre. for the prior 4 years that was a 24in imac, so the panorama i *initially* thought was great.... turned out to have caused extreme alterations in my eyes.
just over two years ago i discovered that my eyes had gone "prism". this is a new development: i've always had -0.75 astigmatism, but prism basically means that i can focus easily on an object that's 1 metre away, but if i look at something 3 metres or greater away i see *DOUBLE*. in the dark, i can't bring the two together.
the implications of that are that not only has there been physical damage caused by long-term computer usage but that there has also been *NEURAL* damage caused by long-term computer usage.
the bottom line of this story is, in this context, that this football player is being extremely sensible. if a few neurons get knocked out of place by a concussion, so damn what: his pursuit of mathematics will, by virtue of it being so incredibly challenging, allow him to grow new pathways and literally grow new neurons. the reason why his peers get brain damage is because they *don't* have anything other than football to challenge them.
each of his pursuits therefore supports the others. the physical exertion keeps his body - and his heart - fit. that in turn allows him more oxygen with which to feed his brain and thus sustain the pursuit of mathematics. the increased mental alertness allows him to play with tactics and strategy that the average player would not be able to consider. his specialty in mathematics would allow him to apply physics (moments of inertia) in a *really* practical way that would keep both him and the people he smacks down safer than would otherwise be done by someone without his knowledge.
but the best part of all this is that if he has a successful long-term career, i predict that he will end up inspiring thousands of young football players to pay a bit closer attention to their other studies, and that coaches will have an example - a specific person - that they can quote as to why, when they go recruiting, they are looking for someone who has not only the physique but also the high academic aptitude as well. ... wouldn't it be great to have an entire team of football players who not only kick ass (literally) but who have degrees and even PhDs? that would change how people think of football, forever.
This just shows that you don't know what the word means. I've know a couple of real sociopaths over a lifetime, and they were mean, manipulative, vindictive arseholes. One thing that they were not, was violent. They preferred to destroy people in more lasting and important ways than a few bruises. The closest everyday concept that mcuttatches the condition is evil.
Most blokes like burning off steam though. Not all of them, some are more shy retiring delicate types such as yourself. But for most men, regardless of whether they end up in the ivory towers of academia or cutting blocks in a yard, physical contact is normal. Success tends to correlate with the ability to control it and project it on demand. That's why we see sports as being a good outlet for it. I've known surprising number of martial artists in academia, they were all very straight forward about why they did it: they like punching things.
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Ha, that's nothing!
"There's a rush you get when you go out on the field, lay everything on the line and physically dominate the player across from you. This is a feeling I'm (for lack of a better word) addicted to, and I'm hard-pressed to find anywhere else."
This is your indication that you are talking with an adrenaline/endorphin junkie.
I play futbol (soccer) defense, and can completely understand this. Its an otherwise thankless position. If you do it well pretty much nobody but your goalie notices, and if you mess up everyone hates on you. So why do it? Honestly, I believe I got addicted to the adrenaline/endorphin hit. I don't even feel right until I've had my first hard tackle. It is next to impossible to get that fix in real life, but a good physical confrontation will bring it right up. I once hadn't got there yet, and then a (clearly juicing) big forward knocked me to the ground while the ref wasn't looking. I got up laughing and thanking him. Not quite the reaction he was expecting.
I don't know how many here have seen Clint Eastwood's Every Which Way but Loose, but the main character Philo clearly had this as well. It was a major plot point that he had to fight, and had an unusual thing where he got better the more he was hit. Classic Endorphin/Adrenaline junkie.
I think it ought to go without saying that as a mathematician Urschel isn't going to get his body chemical "hit" in his daily life. I've certainly found that to be the case as a software engineer.
I bet this guy will kick ass at chess boxing when his NFL days are over.
How is the Riemann zeta function like Trump rallies? Both have an endless number of trivial zeros.
I started learning Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu (BJJ) about 6 years ago. One of the first things I noticed was that there seemed to be a higher percentage of technical/professional than I found in other athletic activities I had done in the past. Yes the UFC has made BJJ a bit trendy but it is more than that. BJJ is great for a smaller and weaker person because it effectively demonstrates technique over strength from day one.
Keep the Classic Slashdot.
I think that the 'surprise' here is related to the (quite numerous, now that the NFL has pretty much lost the battle to keep CTE under wraps) stories about how the head trauma you experience in football has a nasty habit of wrecking your brain in a variety of unpleasant ways.
The fact that not all math professors are wholly sedentary, feeble, and bookish isn't a huge surprise; but seeing one doing something well known to have a high risk of chewing up his brain and spitting it out, that is somewhat curious. I would have expected him to choose something with more below-the-neck contact. Soft tissue damage and broken bones are something that humans cope with fairly well, and Team Medicine knows a lot about dealing with, if natural recuperation isn't cutting it; but brains are touchier; and there is a lot less we can do for you if yours isn't working so well.
This just shows that you don't know what the word means.
It's a personality disorder depicted by extreme anti-social behaviour. It's actually a quite broad word which describes a very broad range of personality traits.
Somehow being an unpleasant person when you're NOT smashing someone about fits that definition quite nicely regardless of what you *think* it means.
I'm a neurotic workout fiend. I have been since I was in my late 20s.
Bear in mind, I wasn't an athletic kid. Not because I had no inclinations, I just lacked confidence and being an introvert didn't help matters much.
So I took up martial arts - any kind anyone would teach me - and my husband would tell me the difference was unbelievable. Much better than just trying to run alone or work out in my basement. Apparently, it wasn't just being in shape that was affecting me: it was also the fact that I would interact with people, and once I knew what I was doing, I'd be able to teach newcomers as well. I also slept better at night and lost weight. It's physical AND mental.
I'm not saying all introverts have to do this, but I become intolerable if I spend too long coming home at night just to sit and watch TV until bedtime. Hubby's come to accept that I have to work out at least five days a week, at least two hours a night, in order to maintain this. And that's fine with both of us, but for anyone to assert that I might be a special case hasn't ever taken part in an athletic activity which promotes interaction with other people.
You'd find that people who aren't training to be pros, but work out that much, are probably more common than you think.
Some people don't believe in fairies. I don't believe in The Patriarchy.
I see you couldn't address my simple question.
Why doesn't he want to live in Africa, among his own race, and ONLY his own race? Could it possibly be because he is a 'white supremacist', and believes that white people make better societies than blacks do?
Perhaps because most people don't take race into account at all for such positions and economically people tend to be much better off in the US? Afterall if his goal was to live among white people as you suggest then several countries in Europe would be a far more sensible choice.
"People who think they know everything are very annoying to those of us who do."-Mark Twain
I know it's just an anecdote, but in my personal experience, at the higher levels of football (college and up: I played in college and have known several people that have moved on to the NFL) it takes a certain amount of intelligence to succeed, simply because the plays and the calls get more complicated. And while the stereotype of offensive linemen is that they are big and dumb, from what I have seen is that they actually tend to be smarter than other players. On my college team at least 2-3 out of our teams academic top 10 every year were offensive linemen, and a surprising number of our offensive linemen went on to graduate school, whether at our school or others. Of course, I may be slightly biased as I was an offensive lineman, I was one of those that went to grad school, and I was on my team's academic top 10 all 4 years.
Another interesting observation I have made is that certain personalities or characteristics seem to congregate to certain positions. For example, if you were to walk through a college or NFL locker room, more often than not you can tell if a player is offense or defense based solely on the state of their locker: offensive players tend to have cleaner, more organized lockers while defensive players tend to have messier, jumbled lockers.
The only thing necessary for evil to triumph is for it to be pitted against a slightly greater evil
In my first year of college I had one math professor who was a former pro football player and another who was a former pro hockey player. Both were excellent professors.
Do you have ESP?
You do realize that most if you go down lists of people who are either confirmed sociopaths or suspected sociopaths, you get a list of serial killers, most CEOs of major corporations, most world leaders, etc. People who like to hit other people aren't typically considered sociopaths. Sociopaths destroy the people around them and society in general as they don't feel the need to conform to social norms and are completely willing to bend those norms and manipulate people to their gain. That's why they tend to end up in positions of power. One of the classical signs of being a sociopath is to have a complete lack of empathy. To know what you are doing is wrong and will hurt others, but to not care about it.
For him to show signs of sociopath tendencies, he'd have to go around hitting people any time he felt he could get away with it, whether or not they're consenting. The fact that he limits it to consensual situations explicitly defines him as to not be a sociopath.
The mind of the true sociopath.
Apparently you don't know what the word sociopath means. Enjoying playing rough contact sports does not make you a sociopath. In fact off the competitive field most athletes who are good at contact sports like football, MMA, wrestling, etc are about as far from being sociopaths as you can get. I've been a wrestler and a wrestling coach for about 35 years so I speak from long first hand experience. Had you bothered to speak with anyone actually involved at those sports you'll find that most of them are very calm, caring, decent people.
When I go too long without physical contact I'm not a pleasant person to be around
Funny I would have thought the opposite.
That's because you made some ill founded assumptions about something you plainly know nothing about.
Thanks for your anecdote, which comprehensively contradicts all other research into abnormal psychology.
You could bother to look up the definition for yourself in any clinical textbook and you'd find that he was largely correct although the term sociopath isn't really used by professionals. Furthermore in both cases the definition has to do with an inability to form emotional attachments or feel empathy towards others. That has NOTHING to do with enjoying rough contact sports. The mere fact that someone enjoys a rough contact sport does not and never did mean that a person has an inability to form emotional attachments, feel empathy or that they are manipulative.
Oh, and if you like hitting people, you're violent. It's sort of the definition of the word. And hitting people is not the same thing as enjoying physical activity or contact.
You will find that most of the male population enjoys rough contact sports to some degree. If you don't personally, that is fine but you ARE an exception. Sports like (american) football, MMA, boxing, rugby, hockey etc are popular in significant part precisely because of their rough nature. Does that make the participant's violent? I suppose to a degree but sports are an appropriate outlet. And you are wrong that it isn't the same thing as enjoying physical activity and contact - it is a subset of those things. What you need to worry about is people who hit others at inappropriate times. If you step on a football field, you know what you are getting into and accept the risks involved which may include you getting hit rather hard. This does not make the person doing the hitting psychotic, sociopathic or otherwise mentally ill.
If you don't understand the difference between enjoying sports and racing to release endorphins and:
I love hitting people
then there's really no helping you.
Nonsense. I've played Ice Hockey for years as a way of getting excercise, stress release, and agression control.
And that works a trick. I was always considered the face of calm rationality at work, the guy that doesn't bother to panic. Assertive but never aggressive. On the ice however, a bit different of a story. I modelled my play after Esa Tikkanen, and Darius Kasparitus, Clowns on the ice that you mess with at you own risk. so I gave and took my fair share of hits.
A hockey player that abuses his wife is pretty rare. We tend to have no agression left after the games. A lot of successful people play that sport, and yes, it is pretty violent. Just like we love it. And yes, we love hitting people within the context of the game. We don't need your help.
The shepherds did so well protecting the flock that the sheep no longer believed that wolves existed.
Really nobody should be playing football.
Curiously this is almost always said by people who never played themselves. Tell me, what exactly is the problem with consenting adults playing a potentially violent game where there is some chance of getting hurt? How is it worse that an X-Games skateboarder who knows he's going to injure himself at some point? Or a sailor who knows they might drown?
Brain injuries are just one of the numerous medical problems caused by football
The only real problem I see with that is that children aren't adequately protected by the rules of the game when they play it. If an adult wants to take the risk of injury then that's their problem. They can reasonably be expected to understand the potential consequences of their participation. Children, not so much and incidence of concussions and certain other injuries in american football are far higher than for most other sports played by youths.
One might consider why one has hostile moods in the first place rather than trying to control that demon by feeding it.
One of the demonstrated best ways to deal with hostile or other moods is through exercise and sports. I cannot think of a more appropriate outlet or better treatment for such issues. I would much rather someone work out their issues on the playing field than in some less appropriate venue.
I doubt they are less susceptible. They may even be more susceptible, as they are butting heads on every snap, not just when they tackle or are tackled. Christ, just take a look at their helmets after the first quarter. I was a pulling guard in high school, and trust me; you'd be amazed at some of the impacts you experience on the line. And that was 20 years ago. These guys today are 6'7, 300+ lbs, and some run a 4.6-4.7 40 yard dash. The amount of power they generate off the line is incredible.
Not anymore they can't...
--- Most topics have many sides worth arguing, allow me to take one opposite you.
100% correct, actually most of the time, the beer effect is applicable to off-the-ice fist fights as well.
I've never understood this whole fighting is 100% bad mentality. We are animals, the product of evolution. We have plenty of traits still with us that meant the difference between life and death on the Savannah's. For some reason, some people think that these traits (such as aggression) are legacy things that are not needed any more. I'd argue that many of these traits are not only needed, but just as important as ever.
I also, think in these days of "think of the children, can't we just hug our problems away, lets form a circle and sing Kumbaya" we simply do not get a chance to properly (practice/hone) these skills/traits and sports creates an artifical environment where we can exercise these traits.
I'm not saying that there are cases where people have REAL issues with aggression, but I'm definitely NOT on the contact sports are evil camp.
You don't like contact sports? Don't play them, but also don't try to force your opinion down everyone's throats. There's all sorts of activities/choices that are proven to cause harm to the body and mind, sitting on your ass in your mom's basement all day, with the only social face-to-face contact you've had with a living human, other than your mom, was six months ago, is probably the worst of them.