Is there such a thing as athletic beauty? Is it different from artistic beauty? Is one somehow more beautiful, or more relevant to our lives? What does athleticism represent? John and Ken begin the show by discussing these matters, with Ken playing art's advocate and John expressing his love for sports and athletics. John and Ken recount some of their most memorable aesthetic moments, and realize that many of them involve sports. Both Ken and John have a bit of trouble deciding if sports are an artform, but they agree that sports have a power to grip people in a meaningful way.

Ken introduces Hans Gumbrecht, author of many works including "In Praise of Athletic Beauty" and Albert Guerard Professor in Literature at Stanford University. John asks Hans: Don't people care more about their team winning than looking beautiful? Aren't championships and goals what attract people
to sports? Gumbrecht agrees completely, but thinks that even in the most diehard fans there exists a certain amount of appreciation for the beauty of the game. Gumbrecht argues that beauty is the least mentioned of the important reasons why people love sports, and that is why it is interesting to discuss.

John询问了“美学”这个词的用法，Gumbrecht解释了他的观点本质上是康德美学对体育世界的延伸。康德的观点尤其重要，他认为，如果你认为某样东西是美的，你就很难理解别人为什么或如何不能——这在体育方面似乎尤其正确。肯和汉斯接着讨论了康德关于美和崇高的观点以及这与运动美和传统艺术美之间的区别有什么关系。Ken继续讨论了目的性和体育运动，体育运动中的目标虽然有些抽象和刻意，但在同样的意义上却是非常真实和简单的——得分并赢得比赛vs .在一定距离内击球。Gumbrecht和John讨论了体育运动的不同目的，以及人们如何不仅仅欣赏运动员的功能性成就，还欣赏那些动作中包含的一些美学品质(一个本垒打vs一个伟大的本垒打)。

John, Ken, and Hans Gumbrecht go on to discuss favorite sports, sport moments, and how sports and sporting events reflect human culture and human attributes with callers. Callers also prompt discussion of how sports can expand our beliefs about beauty and discover more beauty within ourselves everyday.

• Roving Philosophical Report(Seek to 4:16): Polly Stryker interviews coaches and athletes in sumo wrestling and gymnastics to get their perspective on beauty and athleticism.
• 60-Second Philosopher(Seek 50:02): Ian Shaoles speeds through the ancient Greek wrestling tradition, Plato's athletic career, and later Roman sporting events.