Jody Avirgan learned everything from sports

How to Be a Better Human

TED

Self-improvement, Education

4.2 • 1.3K Ratings

🗓️ 6 February 2023

⏱️ 38 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

When it comes to sports, it might seem like there are two kinds of people. Those who are religious about their love for the game and those who only see Super Bowl Sunday as a vessel for an epic halftime concert – if they think about it at all. Jody Avirgan argues this is a false binary. In Good Sport, his new show from the TED Audio Collective, Jody makes the case that sports are as good a lens as any to understand the world – regardless of whether you are an athlete, a fan or a begrudging bystander. In this episode, Jody shares the lessons he’s learned from playing and reporting on sports at the highest levels, and makes a compelling case that sports can help us uncover the amazing emotions that make us better humans. You can listen to Good Sport wherever you are listening to this. For the full text transcript, visit go.ted.com/BHTranscripts

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0	Ted Audio Collective.
0:02.0	Audio Collective.
0:04.0	You're listening to How to Be a Better Human.
0:10.0	I'm your host Chris Duffy.
0:12.0	When it comes to sports, I know nothing.
0:14.0	I really cannot overstate how little I know about sports.
0:18.0	There was a period of several years in a row
0:20.0	where I kept putting together comedy shows,
0:22.0	booking the venue and the comedians,
0:23.6	and then realizing that it was at the exact day and time as the Super Bowl.
0:27.5	I was like, why is no one buying tickets for this?
0:29.5	And then it became abundantly clear.
0:31.5	And that is why the Super Bowl is now a recurring event in my
0:34.7	calendar and when it comes to playing sports I am not much better. In high school I was
0:39.0	the first person ever benched on the ultimate frisbee team so I think that gives
0:42.2	you a really clear sense of the kind of fierce,
0:45.7	unstoppable competitor that I am. If I'm being honest, I have always felt like sports were for other people, not for me.
0:52.4	But today's guest, Jody Evergan is all about
0:55.2	sports. He's also reported on them and built a career around them. And I have to say, over the course
1:00.9	of our conversation, Jody really changed my mind.
1:03.4	He convinced me that whether you're already a rabid sports fan or if you're someone like me who's kind of a complete novice,
1:09.2	sports can be a lens through which we can really become better humans.
	...

Transcript will be available on the free plan in -743 days. Upgrade to see the full transcript now.

Previous episode | Next episode

Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from TED, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.

Generated transcripts are the property of TED and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.