Introduction: your brain on sports -- Why the t-shirt cannon has something to teach us about human nature -- Why Tom Brady and all those other quarterbacks are so damned good-looking (or are they?) -- Why we channel our inner Mayweather and secretly crave disrespect -- Why we are all dog lovers at heart (but not deep in our hearts) -- Why hockey goons would rather fight at home -- The curse of the expert: why the best players make the worst coaches -- Acting on impluse: why we aren't so different from the sports hothead (L-O-B, Crabtree!) -- Why athletes don't need an empty bed before competition -- Why the coach's seat is always hot -- Why so many successful ultra-endurance athletes area also successful recovering addicts -- Why giving every little league kid a trophy is such a lousy idea -- Why rooting for the Mets is like building that IKEA desk -- Why we need rivals -- Why we want Gronk at our backyard barbecue, and why he wants to be there -- Tribal warfare: why the agony of the other team's defeat feels just as good as the thrill of our team's victory -- Why we are all comeback kids -- Why running on a treadmill is like running a business -- Why the World Cup doesn't lead to world peace (even if J. Lo and Pitbull claim otherwise) -- Why our moral compass is more flexible than an Olympic gymnast -- Why unlocking the mystery of human consciousness is, like so much else in life, all about sports.
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