Gladwell has isolated the correct reason in his stories but he doesn't present it directly. What really beats Goliath is when Goliath has to face something he

Gladwell has isolated the correct reason in his stories but he doesn't present it directly. What really beats Goliath is when Goliath has to face something he isnt used to or prepared for and is put off balance. Pitino nails it when he talks about the "rush moment" or "rush state" Getting them out of their game or off balance is whats effective, outworking them is not as much. The reason, for example, that every basketball team doesn't press is because if a team is prepared for the press and more talented than the pressing team its relatively easy to beat it. On the same note if two teams both press each other the talent rises to the top. Look at running for example, how do you beat someone who is faster than you in a distance race? Get them to run your race, throw in surges etc... If you're faster but they have more endurance: box them in, slow the race down, make it come down to a kick where you're favored. Like the press if they simply know they're faster than you and prepared for it they should just take off from the gun but they often dont, especially against someone they've never run against before and surprise often wins out. So while its nice to write a story about effort and it makes for a good read this article should be more about keeping an opponent off balance than it should have been about effort winning out