Newswise — Win or lose, football games always end with their share of questions " no matter if it's playing touch in the backyard at the family reunion or teeing it up in the 2007 Toyota Gator Bowl, as West Virginia University and Georgia Tech are doing Jan. 1 in Jacksonville, Fla.
Questions " like the poignant, "What if we had made that field goal going in to halftime?" for the fans whose team ends with a lower number on the scoreboard. Or (for the winning team's fans), "What if we'd been stopped on that third and long that led to the winning touchdown?"
WVU fans stopping at the University's official "Mountaineer Connection" Fan Center in Jacksonville, or visiting the official WVU fan Gator Bowl site (http://bowlgame.wvu.edu/) will get to muse over a decidedly different set of ponderables " long before the Mountaineers and Yellow Jackets kick off at 1 p.m. in Alltel Stadium.
That's because the queries are coming from a source not readily associated with football: WVU's Department of Philosophy.
Say hello to"¦THE QUESTION.
The academic exercise has actually been around for a couple of years on campus. Philosophy Chair Sharon Ryan came up with the idea to garner some attention to her department while also introducing critical thinking and reasoning " the building blocks of her discipline " to Morgantown area youngsters.
THE QUESTION is actually a series of questions, and Ryan's budding philosophers to date have bumped up against such brow-wrinklers as "Does God exist?" and "When is War OK?" to "Are NASCAR drivers athletes?"
Ryan has been more than pleased, she said, with what she calls "amazingly thoughtful" answers from the young respondents.
"Kids have great ideas," she said. "I want to live in a world where kids are encouraged to try out their ideas while opening themselves up to challenges. I want them to confidently question the ideas of other people, but of course, I want them to do that with respect to the other point of view."
But respect to the other point of view doesn't always apply when football helmets sporting the "Flying WV" logo are involved, which is why the questions posed in Jacksonville and online will shy away from "Who's going to win?" or "Who's got the better team?" variety.
Instead, fans will be asked to consider "What is pride?...What is a team?...What is your Mountaineer connection?...What is a family?"
Fan Center visitors can write their answers down and leave them in a drop box for later posting online or go to the website and do so online.
And like the best trick-play on the football field, Ryan said, those questions will invite a quick response before doubling back for deeper meaning.
We did that on purpose," she said. "I really think the world would be a much better place if people would take philosophy seriously, and not just because I do this for a living. Philosophy invites you to slow down, step back and consider. Then, reconsider."
Not that it can't be fun and entertaining, she said.
Having her department represented alongside the University's presence at the Gator Bowl, she admits, can't help but appear at least a little incongruous " given, as she chuckles, that philosophers are often portrayed in television and movies as "tweed-wearing nutjobs saying all kinds of outrageous things."
But philosophy, she said, is part of our emotional fabric, even if we don't always realize it.
It's all about "wrestling with the big philosophical questions," she said, that range from religion to going to war to how people are treated.
"Unfortunately, many people wrestle alone," she said. "Unfortunately, many people do not wrestle and they accept simple answers. I just want people to really wonder, think, listen, share and respectfully evaluate their ideas openly. That's what philosophy is all about and that's what THE QUESTION is all about."
Learn more about THE QUESTION and WVU's Department of Philosophy at http://www.wvu.edu/~philosophy/thequestion.html.
And, ponder the question online at: http://thequestion.blogs.wvu.edu/ or http://bowlgame.wvu.edu/ -- or at the Fan Center Dec. 30-31 at the Hyatt Regency Jacksonville Riverfront Hotel.
The "Mountaineer Connection" is jointly sponsored by WVU's Office of University Advancement and Marketing, the Alumni Association and WVU Foundation, with corporate sponsors United Bank, Coca-Cola and Verizon.
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