There are about 10 million reasons why I love sports, but since returning to the business of more regular, structured introspection, I’ve considered one reason that was previously off my radar. It’s all about, particularly in the video age, our ability and desire to replay moments to dissect them, better understand them, relive them and, no doubt, over-analyze them.
I’m good at the latter, especially when it comes to myself. But with the growing awareness of the possibility of false memory, one would pay handsomely for videotape of, say, that moment in third grade, or that life-changing decision and all of the sensory input that preceded it. Imagine a team of analysts — hey! that’s what they call them on TV, but in this context, just perfect — showing replays from different angles, figuring out what went wrong, and how something came to be.
You can explore a moment ad infinitum with video handy. In a team sport — let’s say American football, with 22 players on the field — and analyze missed assignments, good execution and, sometimes, dumb luck. What I wouldn’t give for that as I examine my past.