Subscribe to Hidden Forces Here: In Episode 44 of Hidden Forces, Demetri Kofinas speaks with Sam Walker, the Wall Street Journal’s deputy editor for enterprise. In his capacity at the Journal, Sam directs the paper’s in-depth, page-one features and investigative reporting projects. A former reporter, sports columnist, and sports editor, Walker founded the WSJ’s prizewinning daily sports coverage in 2009. Sam is also the author of The Captain Class: The Hidden Force That Creates the World’s Greatest Teams. In addition to The Captain Class, he is the author of Fantasyland, a bestselling account of his attempt to win America’s top fantasy baseball expert competition (of which he is a two-time champion). Human beings gravitate naturally towards sports. We love competition, but our love affair with athletic performance is not just about rivalry. It’s about so much more. As our lives becomes increasingly intermediated by computer interfaces, spectator sports provide one of the few remaining ways to experience the elegance and power of the human body. In a world that is constantly changing, sports are a window into the old. They offer us a rare glimpse at millions of years of evolution – the impulses, characteristics, and behavioral urges of our ancestors. Team sports, in particular, give us a front row seat to the unfolding drama of evolutionary forces that have shaped human selection. Demetri’s conversation with Sam Walker is, in some sense, a search for the DNA of greatness. Follow us on Facebook: Follow us on Twitter: Follow us on Instagram:
