Simple Liars, Damned Liars, and Experts
by Thom Van Vleck
I like talking about training. Even if half the time it evolves in an argument. The one person I have learned the most about weight training is from my Uncle Phil Jackson. He would often say to me, “I’ve forgotten more about training than you’ll ever know”. I still often think he is right. Another guy I’ll mention is Al Myers. I have learned more about throwing for the Highland Games from Al than any other person. A lot of the USAWA crowd may know Al competed in the Highland Games but are not aware he was world class at it. The reason I listened to Al and Phil was not because they were considered by the majority of the lifting or throwing world as experts but because both had something in common with me. None of us were what I would call natural or “gifted”. We all had to work for every bit we have.
First I’ll say this. There’s a fallacy out there that great athletes make bad coaches and mediocre athletes make great coaches. The “logic” given is that great players never really learn how to play and rely on their natural abilities while mediocre players have to learn every trick to get better. The evidence given is that there are many coaches that were mediocre players. Well, that’s just Bull! The reality is that there are MANY more mediocre players and it would make sense that they would end up a majority in the coaching world over the handful of great athletes. What really defines a great coach is knowledge and the ability to impart that knowledge in a way another will take it and use it. They have what’s been called “Practical IQ”.
Now, I don’t know for sure about Al, but I do know that my Uncle Phil would say I’ve barely listened to him at all over the years. He’s partly right, I have been stubborn at times. But I would argue he’s mostly wrong. If you look at how I train there’s more of him in there than any other person on earth. As for Al, I know I’ve frustrated him from time to time with a million questions and when he’s been nice enough to answer me I’ve often ripped apart his answers. Al’s such a nice guy this may be hard to believe….but I’ve made him mad more than once! Yet, if you look at how I throw…NOBODY has had more influence on my throwing and how I train for throwing! I have just learned over the years that there are….Simple Liars, Damned Liars, and Experts.
The title for this article refers to a saying among lawyers and judges. It refers to the “expert” witness. It is often used to make the point that you can get an credentialed expert witness to support about anything. Kind of like the saying “Lies, damned lies, and statistics” that make the point that you can find stats to support just about any point of view….whether that point of view is right or not! This is the attitude I bring into how I approach all experts.
Heck, I AM AN EXPERT! I have been called into court numerous times to provide expert testimony as a licensed professional counselor. I have frustrated many judges and lawyers in this role because when I KNOW I’m being looked to as an expert then all the speculation, logic, “makes sense to me” is shoved out of my brain and I got with cold, hard, facts. And the truth is…..you can’t get much from cold, hard facts! You need to take that leap and expand out beyond what is known and take your “best guess” sometimes to find success. When pressed by a lawyer or judge, I would preface my “best guess” by saying this is my “opinion based on what I know”. That rarely helped….they wanted me to tell them that I “unequivocally” knew the truth and to say it as such.
So, what does all this mean. I guess (based on what I know…..HAHAHA) that I’m trying to say that we need to seek out experts and understand that one person’s “expert” may not be your “expert”….we all have different needs. These experts can be anywhere and don’t always need to be the “greatest” or the “most famous”. We also need to look at being able to mine what an expert can give us even if sometimes they aren’t the best communicators. We should never throw out the coaching of on person simply because they gave bad advice one time. That’s like the old saying of throwing the baby out with the bath. Finally, we need to open ourselves to find people who know more than us and take a leap of faith on what they are telling us…..but always remember there are liars, damned liars, and experts. It’s all in how you want to look at it. If you think it’s a lie….or the truth…you’ll probably be right.