The great American humorist Mark Twain once said, “Never argue with stupid people — they will drag you down to their level and then beat you with experience.”
Along those lines (sort of), NBA coach/announcer Jeff Van Gundy, in moments of on-court malfeasance, has been known to say, “Stupid will get you beat.”
It’s a sentiment I heard voiced from a variety of coaches throughout my sporting youth. They weren’t always nice about it, but the nice way to put it was: “I can handle the physical errors, but the mental ones are unforgivable.”
Nonetheless, all that coach-speak essentially meant the same thing: “Get your head out of your ass before you lose this game all by yourself.