We all need hobbies.
asserted
We → need → hobbies
The internet is eating us, as a species, driving people insane, spawning the scourge of AI, and often reducing us to screen-gawping dullards who sit too much.
asserted
who → eat → dullards
If you are reading this on a screen, of course, that’s good screen time.
asserted
that → read → course
Former NFL coach Mike Tomlin offered the world a tour of his hobby this week: Minecraft.
asserted
Tomlin → offer → hobby
Tomlin coached the Pittsburgh Steelers for 19 years, during which he went 193-114-2, won a Super Bowl and lost another, ended his tenure 10th in all-time NFL regular season wins, and was also one of the sainted few who have been at the helm in Pittsburgh since 1969: Chuck Noll, Bill Cowher, and Tomlin.
asserted
who → coach → 1969
But it wasn’t the pressure of NFL coaching that drove him to Minecraft, it was parenthood.
asserted
it → drive → Minecraft
As Tomlin said in his first of several YouTube videos, he watched his kids get lost in the world of Minecraft when they were younger, and joined in so he could spend time with them.
uncertain
he → say → them
And over the last 12 or 13 years, as his three children drifted into high school and university and away from the game, Tomlin stayed.
asserted
Tomlin → drift → game
The result appears to be an epic city, and beyond the scale — it appears to have stadiums, a downtown, suburbs, and more — you can see how meticulous it is.
asserted
it → appear → stadiums
When my children build things, they always have to be reminded to build an appropriate ceiling height; Tomlin nailed that.
asserted
Tomlin → build → that
He put an adequate number of stalls in the lobby bathroom of his first building, a boutique hotel.
asserted
He → put → building
He made a CVS Pharmacy and er, a Trump Tower.
asserted
He → make → Pharmacy
Look, we all have regrets.
asserted
we → look → regrets
“I appreciated over time, more, balconies,” Tomlin says, at one point.
asserted
Tomlin → appreciate → point
“I got into Jack and Jill bedroom concepts,” he says, at another.
asserted
he → get → another
He likes water: Tomlin started the city around a small lake, wrapped it around a river, and built an apartment building with an aquarium on every floor, which is across the street from the town aquarium.
asserted
which → like → aquarium
Tomlin included a pool in a basement speakeasy, too.
asserted
Tomlin → include → speakeasy
He made a colour-coded apartment complex based on one son’s off-campus housing; he fixated on bedroom details and often used glass ceilings for light, because lighting in Minecraft — like working with water to make an aquarium — can be a pain in the butt.
asserted
lighting → make → butt
He spawned people, to see how they interacted with his city.
asserted
they → spawn → city
And most impressively, Tomlin stayed focused on this one sprawling, focused creation for over 12 years.
asserted
Tomlin → stay → years
“He cares more about Minecraft worlds than he does about the team,” my 11-year-old daughter said as I showed her the video and a Steelers game played on TV.
asserted
I → care → TV
“If that burnt down,” she said, pointing to Minecraft, “he would explode.
asserted
he → burn → Minecraft
If that burnt down,” she said, pointing to the television, “he would minorly explode.”
asserted
he → burn → television
NFL coaches are supposed to be mythically maniacal and, as former Steelers running back Le’Veon Bell wrote, “we were tryna win super bowls and coach T was on minecraft building cities.”
asserted
T → suppose → cities
It has been noted Tomlin won five playoff games and a Super Bowl before Minecraft, and three with no Super Bowls after Minecraft but, assuming a start in 2014, Tomlin’s Steelers reached the playoffs four times in seven years before Minecraft, and nine times in 12 years after.
asserted
Steelers → note → years
But, really, Pittsburgh’s run game declined, and then quarterback Ben Roethlisberger aged.
asserted
Roethlisberger → decline → ?
It happens.
asserted
It → happen → ?
To those criticizing Tomlin’s hobby, well, Winston Churchill recommended every person should have two or three real hobbies, and he helped defeat the Nazis.
asserted
he → criticize → Nazis
A National Institutes of Health study on hobbies found they reduced depression, anxiety and stress, enhanced quality of life and well-being, and helped create a sense of community.
asserted
they → find → community
And, as video games go, Minecraft rules.
asserted
Minecraft → go → ?
As a father of four whose households have owned a Commodore 64, a Super Nintendo, a 1990s personal computer, an Xbox and a Nintendo Switch, I contend Minecraft is the greatest video game ever made.
asserted
Minecraft → own → 64
At its heart Minecraft is driven by the limitless engine of human creativity, and you can build more or less anything you can imagine.
asserted
you → drive → anything
It’s almost literally the opposite of AI.
asserted
It → ’ → AI
And Tomlin wanted to be close to his kids before they grew up and drifted into their own lives and their own worlds, and only later did it became a therapeutic place: a place to focus his mind away from the pressure and the strain of coaching guys like Roethlisberger, Joey Porter, James Harrison, Antonio Brown and Najeh Davenport, among others.
asserted
it → want → others
And then his sons got him to do the video, and helped with its production.
asserted
him → get → production
It’s understandable, and instructive.
asserted
It → ’ → ?
The world is a lot at the moment, and doing something you enjoy, something that occupies your whole brain, is an antidote.
asserted
that → do → brain
Ideally hobbies include the outdoors and other people and especially your kids, but what matters is you do it.
asserted
you → include → it
Because in the end, in Minecraft or elsewhere, what you’re really building is you.
asserted
building → build → what
The Aporia
