It Is What It Is

I hate this saying. Used to anyways. It’s one of those sayings that comes out of someone’s mouth, and you kind of think “wow, thanks for contributing absolutely nothing to the conversation.”


And yet, it’s absolutely irrefutable. You can’t argue that “it isn’t what it is”. History is concrete, cannot be changed (unless you exist in the world of LOST? But that’s besides the point.) “It is what it is” turns out to be moreso advice than anything. A way to ground ourselves, put things in perspective, a nicer way to say GET OVER IT!

There’s a point in life where everyone is completely surprised by something, expecting fully one thing to happen (based on past experiences) and another thing totally happens. When the Patriots lost a perfect season in the Superbowl, even Giants fans were surprised. This team won 18 games in a row and even beat the Giants earlier in the year. Everyone who watched should have known “past experiences don’t guarantee future results”. It is what it is.

Wes Welker shouldn’t have played that last, meaningless 2010 regular season game for the Pats. He did play. Now he gets to sit for 16 games and playoffs next year. It is what it is.

There was a prop line on a sport betting site, odds that the Manning’s would beat the Donald’s in a commercial depicting an Oreo eating contest. This commercial was aired recently, and the Manning’s “won” because the Donald’s were arguing while the quarterbacks were frantically eating. It wasn’t a fair contest, just one team obliterating another that wasn’t even playing. Why is this so serious to me? Because anyone who was in production on the commercial could have dumped their entire life savings on the Manning’s, and made 14% instantly. Odds were Manning’s to win -700 (bet 7$ to win 1$). It was fixed, and many people missed out. It is what it is.

I recently bet on the Warriors, 3 times actually. Lost all 3 bets. My experience tells me “every time you bet on the Warriors, you will lose”. In truth, though, Golden State is 26-20 Against the Spread. They have this public perception that they’re so bad, it doesn’t matter what the line is, they will still not be able to cover it. 20 times that was true. 26 times it wasn’t. It is what it is. (By the Way, tonight against Dallas they are getting 12 points).

People who are new to gambling often have a tough time accepting this saying. If once you play blackjack and double down, and win, you have a perception: every time you have doubled down, you have won. This won’t always hold true. As betting on the Yankees isn’t always going to be winning proposition, betting the Devil rays isn’t always going to be a losing one.

Maybe writing this is just a little therapeutic for me. There are perceptions I need to accept, and let go of. I believe everyone has a few they could afford to lose. Can you think of something you expected that never happened? Or something you didn’t expect coming to existence? It’s good to have expectations. Keeps us sane, allows us to believe something instead of being apathetic to the world. But it’s also important to realize that what’s happened? Well, it’s happened. It is what it is.