The Rubik’s Cube is a fun puzzle that has confused the minds of millions. How do we exactly get all the nine colors on to one side? How do we do that six times?<\/p>\n
Jets rookie lineman Calvin Anderson is a master at solving the Rubik’s Cube, able to complete the puzzle in various ways, including behind his back or blindfolded.<\/p>\n
In middle school, he saw a football teammate solve a Rubik’s Cube, and it piqued his curiosity. Anderson was able to pick up the Rubik’s Cube with ease.<\/p>\n
\u201cI loved how it was a combination of hand-eye coordination,\u201d he said, \u201cand keeping your mind buzzing the whole time.\u201d<\/p>\n
During his football journey, Anderson kept his talent close to him. When he heard about the football team’s freshmen talent show at Rice, he decided he wanted to go big.<\/p>\n
\u201cEverybody knew I could do the Rubik\u2019s Cube, so it was going to be lame if I just went up there and did the Rubik\u2019s Cube,\u201d he said. \u201cSo I took like seven or eight months before I even got to Rice and I was trying to think, what could I do? I wanted to shake it up. I wanted to do something with the Rubik\u2019s Cube \u2014 how could I make it different?\u201d<\/p>\n
That’s when he first taught himself how to do it without looking. Watching his grandfather solve Sudoku puzzles gave him the idea of using the numbers 1-9 to help him remember where colors were on the Rubik\u2019s Cube.<\/p>\n
\u201cEach color is correlated to another side with the numbers and the colors. So, if you see the colors and you transfer them to numbers \u2014 I\u2019ve always been good with numbers. I\u2019m not a big picture guy, but I can remember numbers. Numbers are easy to me \u2014 when you fold the cube back together, every time you mix it up, the numbers are always correlated the same way.\u201d<\/p>\n
“It\u2019s interesting to me. It helps me with the way I learn,\u201d he concluded.<\/p>\n
He has estimated that he has solved over a thousand cubes, maybe even in the thousands of cubes. He owns 30 of them himself and brought two of them with him to training camp over the summer.<\/p>\n
\u201cI probably need to get some more, actually,\u201d Anderson said. \u201cI have a little dresser (at home) that has a drawer with a bunch of Rubik\u2019s Cubes.\u201d<\/p>\n