Games are played in the mind. This is more obvious in cricket than other games but in each case the mind has its place. The blazing heat of the SCG or the splashy tarmac of Silverstone demands thought in selection and training. Lost, drawn, won or placed, results are in many instances nowadays awaited with bated breath around the world.
It was doubtless with some relief that the armies in the Trojan War gave themselves to sporting contests aside from the main agenda. The same is true today. In the contestants’ eyes the truth of the matter can be seen. This matters.
It matters because what goes on in the mind is seen in the strategy and tactics of the event. Somebody somewhere has been working on the way the game will go. Such is the progress in the design and construction of engines, say, that many engineers are busy all through a motor-race. Individuals and teams find themselves the centre of attention in universities and facilities throughout the world.
It is not only in sport that what goes on in the mind matters. The same is true in what commands attention in other fields where consideration leads to action. The present furore over the dropping of literature from university time-tables is a clear indication of this. And this concern is one that impinges on other departments and faculties – history and theology, for example.
Even those who regard religion as a superstition have to acknowledge the verve with which it is regarded in the northern and southern hemispheres. It has its followers as determinedly active as Manchester United. Muslims in their thousands go on the hajj. Similar numbers turn out to welcome a visit by the Pope.
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