That's Why They Play The Games...

It’s all about the hype. The spin. The pundits. The experts. The talking heads. The facts. The data. The insight. The intangibles. The inside scoop. The interpretations. The trends. The analysis. The speculation. The predictions. The records. The historical contexts. The powers that be. The informed conclusions. Really? No…not really.

Every Saturday morning here in the states college football experts fill hours of airtime making the case for who will win the games on the weekend schedule. They look at conferences, rankings, previous performances, position-by-position match-ups, who plays better at home or on the road, injuries, benchings, weather, scandals, human interest stories…if there’s a way to make the case for why certain teams will win today, it is made…convincingly.

Then at high noon eastern time the games begin. And all the posing and posturing about the result of every game in the country goes out the window. Some favorites win. Some underdogs surprise. And while some general statements can be made about the power conferences, the football factories and the haves and have-nots, there is only so much rhyme and reason as to the outcomes when they are reported out on Sunday morning. All the talk means nothing. Any given team can beat any other team on any given day. That’s why they play the games.

What does this mean for education? Well, we have a lot of experts and data and powers that be putting their spin on what is happening and what is going to happen in classrooms. They have a lot of money, power and influence on their side...access to media and entertainment and corporate resources…it can certainly appear and sound like they know what they’re talking about. But where does the rubber meet the road in public education? In the classroom. All the politicians and philanthropists and administrators and data analysts may have their say, but at the end of the day it is the teacher and student who make it happen.

What can we infer from this?

• People love the anticipation of the unknown…the adrenaline rush and the hype, but ultimately events play themselves out in the present moment.

• Posing and posturing get a lot of attention, but in the final analysis it’s all about performance.

• Money, knowledge and power provide advantages, but they do not control the outcomes.

• People can manipulate perceptions, but in the end reality always bears itself out.

• Teachers, more than anyone else, will determine the future of education.

• You can prove all the experts wrong.

Make a difference in the moment. Right now. Nothing else matters. You have control over your oucome. No one else.

There’s a certain satisfaction with proving the soothsayers wrong. Truman defeating Dewey for the presidency. The Jets beating the Colts in Super Bowl III. Everyday citizens bringing down the Berlin Wall. It didn’t matter who had the perceived upper-hand or who predicted what…all that mattered was the outcome.

So…stop listening to the pundits. Get your game on, get back out there and give it everything you’ve got. Don’t let the voices on the sidelines get in your head. Sure they can have their say. But in the end, it’s up to you. You own the endgame.