The other night while watching a sports interview (during the US national figure skating competition to be exact), the writers of CauseScience noticed that athletes get away with saying a lot, trash talking, and completely ignoring criticism. It made us wonder about what it would be like if scientists were treated like celebrities. Our culture values entertainers, athletes, musicians, actors/actresses, and other celebrities to a much higher degree than scientists, doctors… and most other meaningful professions.

Imagine scientists trash talking competitors. Or responding to reviewers comments the same way athletes respond to criticism. Or being interviewed about how running a gel or PCR went that day. It would be hilarious!!

CauseScience will be launching a series of posts and hashtags to consider what it would be like If Scientists Were… Since this weekend is the superbowl, what better way to start than with #IfScientistsWereProAthletes

A few examples from Ashley Wagner’s interviews surrounding her WIN at the 2015 US Figure Skating Nationals – just to get your wheels spinning. Some negative, but also positive quotes that are quite funny when applied to SCIENCE!

• About her competitors – “In skating, she makes me uncomfortable, because she’s always kind of breathing down my neck. I don’t like to get beat. And I do not like to get beat by girls.”
• About her critics – “this shows them that they need to shut their mouths and watch me skate.”
• About her job – “I LOVE skating, i mean, I’m so lucky that this is my job, that this is what i do everyday.”
• and again – “I’m so endlessly in love with this sport and I’m so glad I was able to show it with the way I skated tonight.”

[tweet https://twitter.com/CauseScience1/status/561164403052380160]

Note: While this is ultimately for fun and a laugh, it can also serve to showcase the lack of public engagement and agreement with science and scientists. As well as the under-appreciation of scientists. In the end, it may not be surprising that most scientists don’t act like celebrities or professional athletes. Science is a profession that trains people to be logical, critical, evidence-based, and open-minded. And usually the ‘system’ keeps most scientists’ egos from getting too big.

UPDATE- See our favorites of #IfScientistsWereProAthletes in a new CauseScience post here!