What do quarterbacking in the NFL and playing the violin have in common?

I'm still thinking about metaphors for mixed/multi media art to understand information technology. I've mentioned narrative as a format/structure that our minds readily absorb. What if the storyline becomes too complex for a narrative to command our attention? How can we digest and use increasing levels of complexity?

I'm intrigued by the byzantine process of how the National Football League (NFL) chooses players for its teams. Beyond the normal concepts of measuring how high a player jumps, how fast they run, and how many repetitions of a certain weight they can lift etc. , I'm curious how teams measure the "intangible" qualities of prospects.

When NFL players are evaluated before they are drafted, they are given a questionnaire called the Wonderlic test, which attempts to assess intellectual readiness for the NFL. This test is given more emphasis when evaluating quarterbacks. To play the position of quarterback in the increasingly complex game of NFL football (the tune of complexity is sounding familiar), one needs to know where all the players are on the field, (who are constantly moving) know the full repertoire of plays the coach might call for that particular moment, quickly and accurately communicate with the other players on his team to execute that particular play against the opposition, while preventing huge, athletic and strong players on the other team from cleaning one's clock. Coaches on the defensive side make a good living by developing schemes that are intended to disguise and confuse the quarterback into making mistakes. The Wonderlic test is supposed to tease out whether the prospects at quarterback have the intellectual capacity to sort through this complexity. Tom Brady, the quarterback for the New England Patriots, was selected after many of his peers from college. He was too skinny, his arm not strong enough. His wonderlic score was high, not the highest. In fact, a teammate of his in college who was supposed to be a can't miss quarterback prospect, scored even higher. He turned out to be a flop in the NFL. When Brady got the chance to play, however, he immediately demonstrated qualities that present him as a hall of fame caliber quarterback. Pundits talk about his unparalleled work ethic, his calm under pressure and his leadership. Observers also talk about his ability to "slow down the game", so that everyone around him is in slow motion; in this context, his decisions and actions become easy.

When I am approached by someone who wants to learn how to play the violin, the first thing I tell them is that patience is a pre-requisite to working with me. I believe in developing fundamental individual skills that eventually are the parts of a balanced system. The first skill is to balance the bow in the right hand between the thumb and the pinky finger. Nothing else. When this skill is attained, we work on holding the violin under the chin/over the shoulder. We progress to making a sound with the least effort possible, by bowing over the string in the exact contact point necessary to maximize the sound. The wrists of both arms need to be relaxed and flexible, despite the difficulty of these tasks. When these skills are in balance with each other, we move on to playing simple music in tune and within a particular rhythmic structure. One can imagine how the details increase in magnitude, when the music becomes more difficult. How about when one is coordinating all of this with other musicians? People become successful when all of these individual skills are learned with careful precision. When they are practiced enough, they become as automatic and efficient as any other physical tasks we take for granted. By building a balanced system of these skills, which in turn becomes effortless in function, plenty of time becomes available for real-time thinking about how to manipulate this system. Perhaps it is the exquisite balance of Brady's skills, which allows him to slow everything down, and give him the opportunity to display such leadership. He may have a lot in common with concert violinists.