He had learned this unproductive and dangerous attitude from his father, an athletic coach. The senior Hoffman liked to pep talk his teams with windy pronouncements derived from the Work Ethic. One of his favorites was: “If you’re good, you don’t need luck.” What nonsense. Of course you need luck. It doesn’t matter how good a football player you are. If you have the bad luck to trip on a loose stair runner and sprain your ankle the night before the big game, none of your hard-earned strengths and skills are going to do you the least bit of good.
