How news works

A weird thing happened happened while watching a news story.

Like many news stories, it used word salads to lead viewers to a conclusion that the news story itself wasn’t technically drawing.

Other folks watching the story with me drew the conclusion, but with skepticism. “Well, I think they are saying this, but they haven’t really said it, but surely that’s what they mean.”

I said, ‘Maybe, but said there’s no reason to draw the conclusion if the story itself hasn’t drawn it.’

Here’s the weird part.

The others saw me as the bad guy for not giving the news story the benefit of the doubt.

I asked, ‘If that’s what they mean, why didn’t they just come out and say it?’

No answer.

Good soccer players are often unaware of how they got good

Once, when I coached soccer, a player had spent a few weeks doing the ball homework I assigned and showed some noticeable progress in a game by dribbling past a defender, instead of kicking the ball into space and chasing it.

I said, “It looks like that ball work is starting to pay off.”

He responded, “I don’t think so. I think soccer is just starting to click for me.”

Those types of experiences stick in my mind when I hear the answers when I ask good adult players how they got good.

I expect to hear that they worked their butts off, they loved playing with the ball more than anybody else or had family members that knew about soccer.

But, they usually say that they’ve always been “a natural.”

Like my former player, maybe their ego keeps them from objectively analyzing what contributed to their development. It’s less magical to think a skill can be acquired through repetition than to believe that somehow you have a natural gift.