Herschel Walker is the Punchline

Back in the day this writer spent his second decade playing some kind of ball at a Boys Club. Many of my fondest memories are of attending Baseball games at Ponce de Leon Ballpark, home of the Atlanta Crackers, which featured a giant magnolia tree in center field,

https://www.mlb.com/cut4/seven-of-baseballs-weirdest-ballpark-features/c-144747404

and the Rose Bowl field,

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russ_Chandler_Stadium

home of the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets Baseball team.

https://ramblinwreck.com/sports/genrel/facilities/mac-nease-baseball-park-at-russ-chandler-stadium/

Then there was Alexander Memorial Coliseum,

Alexander Memorial Coliseum
The Thrillerdome (http://basketball.ballparks.com/NCAA/ACC/GeorgiaTech/)

home of the Georgia Tech basketball team. The football team played their home games at Grant Field, which is currently called the Bobby Dodd Stadium at Historic Grant Field.

https://history.library.gatech.edu/exhibits/show/bldg/item/1741

I lived to play ball. Baseball was king until the fans became enthralled with football, which I now think of as “maimball,” for obvious reasons. Like most, if not all who played maimball I have a bad disc in my back to show for the time spent on the field of battle. I went up to catch a ball and was speared in the lower back by the helmet on the head of a defensive player. The blow flipped me over and I landed helmet first, but held onto the ball.

One of the greatest ball players who ever played died recently. His name was Charley Trippi. The headline at the New York Times says it all:

Charley Trippi, Versatile Football Hall of Famer, Dies at 100

A star on offense and defense, he took Georgia to a Rose Bowl victory and the Chicago Cardinals to an N.F.L. title. “The greatest football player I’ve ever seen,” Jim Thorpe said. (https://www.nytimes.com/2022/10/19/sports/ncaafootball/charley-trippi-dead.html)

Many have said Jim Thorpe was not only the best football player they had ever seen, but the best ball player, period.

Jim Thorpe, Major League Baseball Player, two-time gold medalist, and Football Hall of Famer, Portrait, New York Giants, New York City, New York, USA, Bain News Service, 1913. (Universal History Archive/UIG via Getty Images) (https://www.insidehook.com/article/sports/jim-thorpe-today)

I mention this because another former football player, Herschel Walker, is running for a seat in the United States Senate. Hershel (pronounced “Huschel” down South) Walker was one of the greatest college football running backs in the history of the sport of maimball. Huschel did not graduate from the UGA, even though he said he did graduate. Politicians, and those who play at politics, say many things, some of which turn out to be true, believe it or not. Huschel was chosen by former President of the United States of America, Donald John Trump, aka, the Trumpster, to run for the office of Senator. The election has been a media circus here in the Great State of Georgia. Frankly, Hushel has as much business being a Senator as I have of being in the operating room with a scalpel in my hands. Hushel gradurated from the UGA with a degree in MAIMBALL. As a Georgian it has been embarrassing watching, and listening, to the man make a fool of himself and the state of Georgia. Huschel has become a laughing stock all over the country. Seeing Huschel leading in the polls makes me want to cry, and/or puke. I do not like it when fellow citizens in other states laugh at my state, but who can blame them?

https://www.huffpost.com/entry/herschel-walker-tooning-out-the-news_n_6350fe6ce4b08e0e608af1a5

Huschel is running against Senator Raphael Warnock.

I recently had a problem with the government and needed help, so contacted Senator Warnock’s office, and assistance was offered. Another problem again caused me to contact Senator Warnock’s office, and the problem is being addressed by one of Senator’s staffers. I mention this because after contacting a Republican Congressman all I received was a solicitation for money. Senator Warnock’s office has asked me for nothing, and they do not know I am writing this post, but you can be sure they will be notified.

Almost everyone in Georgia is talking about the election. Huschel Walker has led a charmed life and people will tell you all about their part in it, given the chance. An example would be the Senior gentleman with whom I talked while waiting for the bus taking me home after attending the recent Decatur Book Festival. The gentleman was wearing a Viet Nam type Army baseball hat and all it took was my mentioning my father was a radioman in the Navy during World War II. The conversation moved to Huschel almost immediately. The gentleman told me a story of the time Huschel was given an automobile by a dealership, “because he was bringing MILLIONS OF DOLLARS into the University of Georgia.” The owner of the dealership had graduated from UGA. A Georgia State Trooper stopped Huschel almost immediately on Interstate 20 because he was doing over one hundred miles per hour. Pressure was put on the Georgia State Trooper to APOLOGIZE TO HUSCHEL! I kid you not. The speeding ticket vanished. The gentleman had more stories and informed me he intended on spending twenty thousand dollars to be filmed telling some of the stories so Huschel would not be elected Senator. “It cannot be good for the state to have someone like him as Senator,” he said. If the bus had not arrived I may have listened to the man for an hour, when the bus came again to the station, but living here has brought more stories than I can possibly recall.

The Racial Divide Herschel Walker Couldn’t Outrun (https://www.nytimes.com/2022/10/02/us/politics/herschel-walker-georgia-senate-race.html)

Although many talk about how it cannot be good for the country for so many politicians to be lawyers, and I agree, at least they were educated politicians. The jury is out on whether those from football should become Senators and Congressmen, as did former football coach Tommy Tuberville. Unfortunately, Tommy, like most politicians who were not born with a silver spoon in their mouth, like the Trumpster, immediately set about correcting his lack of money, as can be found all over the internet with a search. What follows was the first thing that popped up after a quick search:

(https://www.businessinsider.com/congress-stock-act-violations-senate-house-trading-2021-9?op=1#sen-tommy-tuberville-a-republican-from-alabama-2)

Tuberville was weeks or months late in disclosing nearly 130 separate stock trades from January to May. The man has traded stocks like a maniac while enriching himself at the expense of We The People.

One of the reasons Huschel has been leading in the polls is that politics has devolved into voting for the party, not the man, or woman, especially where the Republicans are concerned. If it were not so serious it would be laughable. What is it, maybe 45% vote for one party or the other, and the other 10% decide who will be elected. If this does not change it will be

https://www.tumblarhouse.com/

Can You Handle the Truth?

Yesterday Mike Murray started a new thread in the “All Things Chess” section of the USCF Forum. The title of his thread is a question, “Does chess develop transferable skills ?” (http://www.uschess.org/forums/viewtopic.php?f=23&t=21185&sid=fc8aa899349128eec2cc1414646786be) Mike begins his post answering the question by writing, “Evidently, not so much.” He then quotes from this blog by copying something I copied verbatim:

“…recent research into expertise has clearly indicated that, the higher the level of expertise in a domain, the more limited the transfer [of skills to other fields] will be… Moreover, reaching a high level of skill in domains such as chess, music or mathematics requires large amounts of practice to acquire the domain specific knowledge which determines expert performance. Inevitably, the time spent in developing such skills will impair the acquisition of other skills.”

Mr. Murray then gives a link to my post, and adds a link with which I was unfamiliar:
“see also” http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4126200/

I would like to express my thanks to Mike Murray for drawing my attention to this paper.

Before deciding to write about what is currently known in regard to the question of whether or not chess is beneficial for children I took the time to read several papers pertaining to what has been learned by those who study these types of questions. These are the papers:

Facing facts about deliberate practice

David Z. Hambrick1*, Erik M. Altmann1, Frederick L. Oswald2, Elizabeth J. Meinz3 and Fernand Gobet4
1 Department of Psychology, Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI, USA
2 Department ofPsychology, Rice University, Houston, TX, USA
3 Department of Psychology, Southern Illinois University Edwardsville, Edwardsville, IL, USA
4 InstituteofPsychology, Health, and Society, University of Liverpool, Liverpool, UK
*Correspondence: hambric3@msu.edu
Editedby:
Michael H. Connors, Macquarie University, Australia
Reviewed by:
Lena Rachel Quinto, Macquarie University, Australia
Michael H. Connors, Macquarie University, Australia

The Role of Domain-Specific Practice, Handedness, and Starting Age in Chess

Fernand Gobet and Guillermo Campitelli
Brunel University

The genetics of music accomplishment: Evidence for gene–environment correlation and interaction

David Z. Hambrick & Elliot M. Tucker-Drob

Accounting for expert performance: The devil is in the details

David Z. Hambrick a,⁎, Erik M. Altmann a, Frederick L. Oswald b, Elizabeth J. Meinz c, Fernand Gobet d, Guillermo Campitelli e
a Department of Psychology, Michigan State University, United States
b Department of Psychology, Rice University, United States
c Department of Psychology, Southern Illinois University Edwardsville, United States
d Institute of Psychology, Health, and Society, University of Liverpool, United Kingdom
e School of Psychology and Social Science, Edith Cowan University, Australia

Does high-level intellectual performance depend on practice alone? Debunking the Polgar sisters case

Robert W. Howard∗
School of Education, University of New South Wales, Sydney 2052, Australia

Longitudinal Effects of Different Types of Practice on the Development of Chess Expertise

ROBERT W. HOWARD*
University of New South Wales, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia

Deliberate Practice and Performance in Music, Games, Sports, Education, and Professions: A Meta-Analysis

Psychological Science published online 1 July 2014
Brooke N. Macnamara, David Z. Hambrick and Frederick L. Oswald
DOI: 10.1177/0956797614535810

Intelligence and chess

Fernand Gobet, & Guillermo Campitelli

Educational benefits of chess instruction: A critical review

Fernand Gobet & Guillermo Campitelli
University of Nottingham

What put me on this path was the flap over what Malcolm Gladwell wrote in his book. “In Gladwell’s bestselling “Outliers” he discusses the “10,000-hour rule”: If you practice the necessary 10,000 hours you can reach the zenith of your field.” (http://www.salon.com/2014/07/15/is_malcolm_gladwell_wrong_scientists_debate_the_10000_hour_rule/)

In the same article Zach answers, “We found that, yes, practice is important, and of course it’s absolutely necessary to achieve expertise,” Hambrick told the Times. “But it’s not as important as many people have been saying.”

The article, Is Malcolm Gladwell wrong? Scientists debate the “10,000-hour rule: The argument between talent versus practices deepens with the release of a new study, by Sarah Gray, Tuesday, July 15, 2014. This particular article begins:

“A new study, published in the journal Psychological Science, is fueling the practice-versus-talent debate. The study was co-authored by Zach Hambrick, of Michigan State University, Brooke Macnamara, who is currently at Case Western Reserve University, and Rice University’s Frederick Oswald. According to the New York Times, this study is the “most comprehensive review of relevant research to date.”

“The paper, which looked at 88 different studies, covering a wide range of activities, from chess to music to sports, found that only 20 to 25 percent of a person’s ability — in music, sports and chess — came from practice. In academics, the Times reports, it is even lower; only 4 percent of a person’s academic ability came from practice. However, the authors note that academic skill was more difficult to measure, because it was tough to gauge how much people knew beforehand.”

The book by Malcolm Gladwell was a best-seller and the author, no doubt, made much money. Unfortunately for him, his theory has been refuted. Even so, their are many people who have not gotten the word. For example, I was sitting at a table in a Barnes & Noble with a chess board in front of me while reading a copy of the best chess magazine in the world, New In Chess, when an older fellow walked up and asked, “Putting in your 10,000 hours?” I asked if he were referring to Gladwell’s book and he answered in the affirmative. As he took a seat I told him Gladwell’s theory had been refuted. Having read the book, he was in disbelief. “The man would not have written the book if it were not true,” he said. Nothing I said could disabuse him of his belief. Fortunately, someone whom he knew arrived and he took his leave, but not before telling his friend that I was a “party pooper.” I have been called far worse…

This kind of thing happens all the time in our society. An example would be what the Bushwhackers said happened to Private First Class Jessica Dawn Lynch during the invasion of Iraq. Initial reports by the Bushwhackers said that before being captured and brutalized, PFC Lynch, in her best Rambo imitation, fired all the rounds in her weapon until the weapon was so hot it burned her hands, but still she continued, in great pain, to hold onto the weapon, using it to club Iraqi soldiers until there were so many of them she could no longer swing said weapon…or some such. I will admit to paraphrasing here, but you get the idea. The truth came out later, and I quote, “Initial official reports on Lynch’s capture and rescue in Iraq were incorrect. On April 24, 2007, she testified in front of Congress that she had never fired her weapon, her M16 rifle jammed, and that she had been knocked unconscious when her vehicle crashed. Lynch has been outspoken in her criticism of the original stories reported regarding her combat experience. When asked about her heroine status, she stated “That wasn’t me. I’m not about to take credit for something I didn’t do… I’m just a survivor.” (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jessica_Lynch#Further_reading) See The authorized biography, I Am A Soldier Too: The Jessica Lynch Story, by Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Rick Bragg.” See also, “The truth about Jessica.” (http://www.theguardian.com/world/2003/may/15/iraq.usa2) People can still be found who will tell you all about the brave woman during the invasion of Iraq who made Rambo look like a wuss…

The lies the Bushwhackers told about former NFL star Pat Tillman are even more egregious, and the truth still has not been told to WE THE PEOPLE. I do not mean to single out the Bushwhackers. “Presidential aide Arthur Schlesinger has written that President Kennedy said just days before the assassination that Johnson was a man “incapable of telling the truth.” (See Robert F. Kennedy and His Times, page 655. I have taken this from the masterful work by Douglas P. Horne, Chief Analyst for Military Records, Assassination Records Review Board, “Inside the Assassination Records Review Board: The U.S. Government’s Final Attempt to Reconcile the Conflicting Medical Evidence in the Assassination of JFK – Volume 5.”)

Another example would be the prosecutor who, while the defandant is on the stand, looks the jury in the eye and says, “The defendant is obviously a scurrilous scumbag!” The public defender then leaps to his feet saying, “Your Honor, I most strenuously object.” At which time the judge says to the prosecutor, “The objection is sustained. Mr. Prosecutor. I cannot believe a man with your credentials would would say such a thing.” To which the prosecutor says, “Yes Your Honor. Forgive me. It will not happen again.” The judge then say, “That last remark will be stricken from the record and the jury will disregard the comment made by the esteemed prosecutor.”
When the trial ends and the jury is marched into chambers to decide the fate of the accused, the only question to be decided is which one will be chosen foreman. Once a foreman is chosen he will say, “Do we really need to spend any time voting? It is more than a little obvious the defendant is a scurrilous scumbag.”
Someone will mention the judge said to disregard the remark and will be turned on by the rest of the pack while the foreman says forcefully, “What the hell do you mean? The ESTEEMED prosecutor said the defendant was a scurrilous scumbag, and he would not have said it if it were not true!” Meanwhile the rest of the pack will nod in agreement, saying, “Uh huh, uh huh, right on, right on, right on.” The poor defendant will be lucky to have a show of hands before being declared guilty.