NFL players are known for their skills on the field, but some also hold beliefs that challenge scientific facts. Flat-Earth beliefs still come up in NFL locker rooms. So, former Philadelphia Eagles center Jason Kelce and Kansas City Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce brought up the subject on their New Heights podcast. They invited astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson to discuss the claims made by flat-Earth believers and those who question the Moon landings. Tyson shared his views on the subject, using football to help explain why the idea of a flat Earth does not hold up.
"I don't hit people over the head," Neil deGrasse said on the New Heights
podcast on Wednesday, November 4. "We live in a free country, or we tell ourselves we do. Okay. So, in a free country, you think whatever you want. Okay? I'm not going to chase you down. But if you think Earth is flat, I just don't want you to become head of NASA. That's all. Football. Play on a flat field. That's fine. That's the thing."
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Kelce also added his point, saying, "Even the field is curved…"
Tyson has been making this case for years. In a 2018 video on his StarTalk YouTube channel, he argued that the spread of flat Earth belief reflects two things: a country that protects free speech and an education system that has let people down.
Watch Travis Kelce and Neil deGrasse Tyson settle a locker room debate that's more absurd than you'd expect. Subscribe for the stories that prove NFL culture is endlessly entertaining.
"For me, the fact that there's a rise of flat-Earthers is evidence of two things. One, we live in a country that protects free speech. And, two, we live in a country with a failed educational system," deGrasse Tyson said. "Our system needs to train you not only what to know but how to think about information and knowledge and evidence. If we don't have that kind of training, you'd run around believing anything."
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He backed that up with experiments and examples showing people knew the Earth was round long before space travel. While talking with comedian Chuck Nice, he kept it blunt.
"We have video from space of the rotating spherical Earth. The Earth is round," he said.
Then he gave the guys in the locker room their own test.
"You guys play football. Here it is. I live on the East Coast. It's Sunday. Everybody's playing their games. Okay, you guys play in the winter where the sun sets early," Tyson said. "I am in the dark in New York City watching the 49ers at home, and the sun is up. That can only happen in this round."
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He wrapped it up the same way.
"Football is the best example of a round Earth. That's all I'm saying," Tyson continued. "Because just you can't have sunshine in San Francisco and darkness in New York unless Earth is round."
He also pointed out that players "don't watch your own games," while fans at home can follow several at once.
"We watch your games, and I can see the multiple games. Some are in sunshine while others are in darkness."
So if a locker room debate ever heats up, a Sunday of football already settles it.
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