How long does it take to become an expert in any given area of human endeavor? Well, recently there was a book by Gladwell called the “Outliers” and in this book he put forth some conventional wisdom; namely that takes 10,000 hours to become an expert in anything. If this is true then that means you can become an expert bicyclist, yoga instructor, small business coach, teleprompting reading politician, pilot, or even perhaps a mathematician by merely putting in the time to learn that endeavor.
In horseshoes, people that know me consider me to be an expert. I know the rules, I’ve built my own court, I play in tournaments, and I can smoke 99.9% of the people in the country at horseshoes.
But against Alan Francis, I could play him 100 games per day for fifty years and I’d still lose every game. Pitching even 50% at horseshoes is about equivalent to shooting 90% free throws at basketball. And yet Alan Frances is at 90% in horseshoes. It’s hard to realize just what that means without immersing into the sport.
Heh, I just remembered we played horseshoes at the last FReeper picnic up in Fresno. Except that none of the other FReepers played. :( I brought a friend with me, and he and I played a few people who were picnicking nearby the horseshoe courts. For a bunch theoretically old fashioned people, FReepers sure don’t get into what may have been the most popular outdoor game in the country back when many of us old guys were young. :)