Phootball Filosophy: The Ancients

We've had a lot of discussions lately over just how good (or bad) the Kansas City Chiefs are going to be this year, some of them fairly heated, none of them truly answering some of the most fundamental issues that we truly want to know.  We all have questions, some of them major concerns and some minor, but all of those questions that arise from various members of the Arrowhead Pride Fandom beg answers. 

For example:  Is Matt Cassel really as good/bad as he seems?   Can Eric Berry actually fly?  If Tyler Palko throws a football and there's nobody there to catch it, does it make a sound?   Is it true that Dexter McCluster is so fast that he can catch a screen in the left flat and run 12 yards the week before the ball is in the air?  And, perhaps the greatest and deepest question of all time:  Chiefs Will?

Follow me now as we begin to explore these and other phenomena as we jump into Phootball Filosophy ...

In the beginning, Mankind (and Womankind) had little self-awareness, spending more time with issues and pursuits other than football and philosphy.  Back in those days, most people were simply trying to earn an honest living, working hard to bring home the bacon (or mammoth) and avoid the pitfalls of the La Brea Tar Pits and survie the final cut to beome one of The Right 53.

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But soon Man evolved, and it was only a matter of time before leisure time was filled with more esoteric pursuits, such as beer, chips and of course, football.  This naturally led to ancient arguments, although without the convenience of television and the internet, but nonetheless, heated discussions did occur, which gave rise to the first true philosophers, the Pre-Socratics.  Pre-Socratic thinkers were fairly simplistic, givng credence to one-dimensional answers to life's deepest questions.  Thales said that the universe was made of water; Anaximenes said that everything was made of air; Heraclitus decided the world was made of fire; while Pythagoras (below) is generally credited with the first Stat Sheet, believing that everything in the universe was made of numbers.

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The birth of modern philosphy is generally attributed to Socrates.  The well-known Socratic Method of dialogue, a series of questions that are asked not only to draw individual answers, but also to encourage fundamental insight into the issue at hand, is also the unwitting origin of the modern blog, and a tool used by ancient sports journalists following the discus event as well as the Sunday games at the Acropolis.  Socrates also said "The unexamined life is not worth living" thus becoming the first philosopher to be quoted by the IRS, as well as supplying early coaches a good excuse to make use of game film as study guides.

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Plato, famous student of Socrates, opened the first school of philosophy, the Academy.  Just as Plato learned from Socates, so Todd Haley has learned from Bill Parcells.  His main belief was that knowledge, like the ability to be a great quarterback, is inherent from birth.  We are what we are, not what we learn or study.  Of course, Plato had a terrible secretary and he often contradicted himself in his later writings.  It was Plato's firm belief, as espoused in The Republic, that only philosophers should be in public office.  For Plato, no one else was good enough to lead the masses, no one else had the right character to be a leader of men.  This same philosophy of character and leadership is found in the writings of Scott Pioli's Draft Manual:  Character Matters.

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 Finally, to wrap up our tour of the Ancient Philosophers, we come to Aristotle.  This is the guy generally credited for applying rational and scientific thought to the world, the idea that there is order to the universe, that we can make sense of the world by observing properties of matter.  Aristotle's teachings and ideas were the basis of almost all thought for hundreds of years until Newton came along, in much the same way that Walter Camp is considered the Father Of American Football and a major force until Vince Lombardi came along.  His words have also inspired Todd Haley to do more than a bit of roster churning a few years later.

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And that's all for this section ... we'll be back soon with another Philosophy class soon, and dig deeper into the mysteries of the football universe, forever asking questions and always seeking answers ... until then: 

Geaux Chiefs