The rise of the intelligent athlete

Anti-intellectualism and boozy, hyper-masculine antics have always been celebrated and encouraged in team sports.

However, a new wave of ‘intelligent’ athletes has recently emerged, in turn blurring the lines between the antiquated ‘jock’ stereotype and the sensitive, socially-conscious thinking man.

If late 1990’s American comedies are to be believed – and I’ve had no reason to doubt their veracity before – then ‘jocks’ and ‘nerds’ have always enjoyed a fractious, uneasy relationship, often played out in the form of an embarrassing and public wedgie, the defacing of a locker or the aggressive, occasionally non-consensual deflowering of a nerd’s “dream girl.”

There was rarely any cross-over – save for the occasions when a jock would fail in his grades and begrudgingly call upon a nerd (usually female) to help him with his studies so he doesn’t get kicked off the high-school basketball team.

This would occasionally lead itself to a poignant moment – and an unlikely, blossoming relationship in which we are privy to the jock’s softer side – but on the whole, jocks and nerds rarely achieve such symbiosis.

They are just two different species.

But in the real world, we are beginning to see the emergence of a strange hybrid phenomenon: the intelligent athlete. It coincides with the individualist era we now find ourselves in, where everyone is striving to be unique, multifaceted and authentic.

Having a brain is cool now, if you’re a sportsman – and if you’ve got one, you best flaunt it.

Because in 2012, the nerd is perhaps more in vogue now than ever before. This is partly due to their prevalence in popular culture and partly due to the evolution of technology.

Shows like ‘Mythbusters’ have made science experiments moderately watchable, while innovators like Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak have totally revolutionalised the way people communicate.

Intelligent athletes stand out from their less cerebral brethren.

They’re more marketable, they attract more endorsements and they create more buzz and intrigue. Anthony Watmough is a very good footballer but – and I don’t think I’m overplaying this at all – he’s as thick as a traditional Russian soup.

His appeal is thus restricted to rugby league purists and parochial Manly supporters.

So here are a few high-profile examples of athletes who have been able to step outside their jock prism and show off a more sensitive, compassionate side at odds with the macho sporting landscape.

1. David Pocock’s humanitarian work (and generally being the best guy, ever)

David Pocock can do no wrong. I’d have to Google this to be sure, but I’d hazard a guess that no international open-side flanker has done more in terms of awareness for women’s rights and marriage equality than Pocock.

He has been a Young Australian of the Year finalist and is reportedly a voracious consumer of the works of Swiss psychiatrist Carl Jung.

Pocock is equally prolific on Twitter and Facebook, but posts photos of his organic garden patch and oil paintings as opposed to the “naked selfies” favoured by his footballing contemporaries.

2. Stuart MacGill drinking red wine

Possibly one of the first recorded instances of a cricketer publicly drinking something other than a beer.

During his career, MacGill was often tagged as a bit of an outcast, in that he did not fit the mould of the typical cliched Australian cricketer. While fellow leg-spinner

Shane Warne had a well-documented penchant for beer and pizza, MacGill was famously more at home with a bottle of Penfolds St Henri Shiraz paired with a rich pâté or terrine.

On tour, MacGill would stay in his room and read; famously, he was said to have once read 24 novels on a single tour of Pakistan.

According to a recent interview, some of his favourite books include Jonathan Littell’s novel The Kindly Ones, about a gay Nazi; and Craig Silvey’s Jasper Jones, the story of an Australian mining town outcast.

He also took a political stance to sit out a tour of Zimbabwe in 2004 after reading about Robert Mugabe’s deliberate starving of his people. One of the first cases of an Australian cricketer displaying independent thought.

3. Ed Cowan writing a book on the stresses of being an aspiring cricketer

Cowan is hardly the prototypical cricketer.

The 30-year-old, who attended Sydney private school Cranbrook and is currently studying a masters in applied finances, was once offered a job as an analyst at an investment bank but turned it down for a shot at cricketing glory.

His book, ‘In the Firing Line’, was a departure from the usual cricket literature in that it dealt with his struggles to make it as an international cricketer before having actually cracked the Australian team.

He also looks like he should be working in an office, which is refreshing in an era where the Australian cricket captain has an arm-sleeve tattoo and goes by the nickname ‘Pup’.

4. LeBron James reading ‘The Hunger Games’ before the 2011-12 NBA Finals

This was one of the funniest images I’ve seen. LeBron, getting a few pages of Suzanne Collins’ ‘The Hunger Games’ in before stepping out on court for the NBA Finals series.

Because, generally speaking, NBA is one of the funnier competitions in the world – not least because the average player is around 6’7″ tall.

Seeing dudes this large reading a book – or, in the case of Chris Bosh, thumbing through a Kindle – prior to a big match is just inherently hilarious.

It is also worth pointing out at this point that Knicks forward Amar’e Stoudemire has the word “read” tattooed on his body…

Just 10 years ago, the big debate centred around whether sex before a game can affect an athlete in a positive (or negative) fashion. Now, it appears that reading is the best way to focus the mind, with LeBron’s MVP finals series last year proving that theory in spades.

5. Some guy in the NRL studying a commerce degree, part-time, once

And yeah, this happened. What’s doing?