Sports Figures is a collection of free, educational television
programs that teach basic principles of algebra, physics, general
science, and geometry, with the help of famous sports figures. For
example, Sports Figures teaches Newton's laws with the help of ice
hockey player Mike Richter (NY Rangers); velocity, acceleration, and
trigonometry with baseball player Chipper Jones (Atlanta Braves); and
force, torque, and center of gravity with football player Jerome
Bettis (Pittsburgh Steelers).
The Sports Figures television programs are shown in the wee small
hours of the morning on ESPN2. The good news is that educators are
free to videotape these programs and use them in the classroom. The
bad news is that you'll have to figure out how to program your VCR to
do this. :(
Actually, there is one more piece of bad news: while the Sports
Figures Web site offers a broadcast schedule, the folks at ESPN
haven't updated that schedule in over a year. Fortunately, you can
find an updated Sports Figures schedule at
Just type in the keyword "sportsfigures" (one word), leave the other
options unchanged, and click on the "submit" button. On the next
page, ignore the word "ERROR" and click on the "SportsFigures" link.
This will take you to a page showing you the date, time, and
description of each of the Sports Figures episodes that will be shown
on ESPN2 in the next couple of weeks (the next episode will air on
Monday, December 21, from 5:30 to 6:00 AM Eastern Time on ESPN2 -- set
your VCRs!)..
So, what good is the Sports Figures Web site if you have to go to the
"Cable in the Classroom" Web site to find out the broadcast times?
Well, the Sports Figures Web site offers free lesson plans and
activity sheets for each episode (you'll need Adobe's free Acrobat
Reader to be able to view and print these files). The site also
offers short multimedia snippets from each episode (either in AVI or
QuickTime format), but they only last a few seconds. Finally, the Web
site includes information on how to contact ESPN's Cable in the
Classroom Department (I plan on contacting them later today to tell
them that if they don't update their schedule soon I will have no
choice but to "unleash the squirrels").
Seriously, though, how could anyone NOT appreciate a television
program that uses Jerome "the bus" Bettis to teach torque? :P