Steve Sailer has a link up to an interesting piece in the NYTimes regarding spatial reasoning. One of the little discussed aspects of team sports is the value of spatial reasoning. The ability to think through problems in three dimensions is a very useful thing if you are a quarterback, linebacker or point guard. These positions require an awareness of where everyone is and where they are going. It also requires an understanding of how the players will react to one another, the limits of the field and the context of the game.

I’ve often mentioned that certain sports are good indicators of skill at other sports. Jim Brown had great field vision in addition to his physical skills. He was a great lacrosse player in college. That’s a sport that requires high level spatial reasoning. You can be good at that sport without being a great athlete, but you have to possess that ability to visualize the field three dimensionally. Otherwise, you can have no idea what’s happening in the sea of sticks and people. Brown’s “vision” made him a terror on the football field.