At some point, the light and dark greys necessarily make way for blacks and whites. At some point, somebody decides who is in and who is out.
And, while logic would dictate that this assessment be reviewable, more often than not it's not so simple. Verdicts stick to you like indelible paint.
Paul Hartley knows all about this. The fact that he will likely lead Celtic, his boyhood idols, into battle against Rangers would have seemed preposterous just a few years ago. Because at some point in his career Hartley made the transition from "might be" to "never will".
True, Millwall did spend £400,000 (Dh2.2m) to acquire his services back in 1996, a hefty sum for a boy still shy of his 20th birthday. Evidence that there were some tools for him to work with.
But those tools seemed lost, or at least misplaced, as he journeyed on through his career through spells at Raith Rovers, Greenock Morton, St Johnstone and Hibernian - all but the latter in the Scottish lower divisions.
The change can be pinpointed to the summer of 2003, when St Johnstone released him on a free transfer and he ended up at Hearts, under Craig Levein.
A few successful campaigns, the first of his Scotland caps and then the move to Celtic, as a lynchpin in Gordon Strachan's title-winning side.
Yet the question remains. Is Hartley a classic late bloomer who simply woke up at the age of 26 and decided to raise his game?
Or did he somehow fall through the cracks, was the assessment of so-called "experts" - scouts and managers - simply incorrect all along?
"I don't think I'm necessarily a better player now than I was seven years ago," Hartley, who is now 32, said. "I'm more experienced, of course, and I've learned a lot. But it's still me." If he is right, there are serious questions to be asked.
At 26, footballers are fully formed. While it is true that in Hartley's case, his improvement coincided with a change in position - from wide man to a more central role - surely that alone can not explain the transformation into a guy who could twice hold mighty France at bay in qualifying for Euro 2008.
More likely the system failed and Hartley simply fell through the cracks.
Or maybe there is another explanation. Perhaps the gap between great players and average ones is nowhere near as large as we are led to believe.
Perhaps there is very little separating the guys who toil honestly in mid to lower table sides and the millionaires above them who feature in the Champions' League.
Perhaps the difference - at least for some players - lies in having better teammates, better coaches and simply being forced to play to a higher level.
Today could turn out to be crucial for Hartley and his teammates.
A win over Rangers would give them a mammoth seven-point lead at the top of the SPL.
A defeat would effectively reopen the title race. And to think that just six years ago he seemed to destined to a career in the relative obscurity of the Scottish First Division.
Much like his namesake, Paul Cezanne, Hartley is doing much of his better work towards the tail end of his productive life.
Whatever the case, Hartley is living the dream, part lottery winner, part grafter made good.
gmarcotti@thenational.ae
MATCH INFO
Rugby World Cup (all times UAE)
Final: England v South Africa, Saturday, 1pm
COMPANY PROFILE
Name: HyperSpace
Started: 2020
Founders: Alexander Heller, Rama Allen and Desi Gonzalez
Based: Dubai, UAE
Sector: Entertainment
Number of staff: 210
Investment raised: $75 million from investors including Galaxy Interactive, Riyadh Season, Sega Ventures and Apis Venture Partners
Emergency
Director: Kangana Ranaut
Stars: Kangana Ranaut, Anupam Kher, Shreyas Talpade, Milind Soman, Mahima Chaudhry
Rating: 2/5
ESSENTIALS
The flights
Emirates flies from Dubai to Phnom Penh via Yangon from Dh2,700 return including taxes. Cambodia Bayon Airlines and Cambodia Angkor Air offer return flights from Phnom Penh to Siem Reap from Dh250 return including taxes. The flight takes about 45 minutes.
The hotels
Rooms at the Raffles Le Royal in Phnom Penh cost from $225 (Dh826) per night including taxes. Rooms at the Grand Hotel d'Angkor cost from $261 (Dh960) per night including taxes.
The tours
A cyclo architecture tour of Phnom Penh costs from $20 (Dh75) per person for about three hours, with Khmer Architecture Tours. Tailor-made tours of all of Cambodia, or sites like Angkor alone, can be arranged by About Asia Travel. Emirates Holidays also offers packages.
How to protect yourself when air quality drops
Install an air filter in your home.
Close your windows and turn on the AC.
Shower or bath after being outside.
Wear a face mask.
Stay indoors when conditions are particularly poor.
If driving, turn your engine off when stationary.
AIR
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UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
How to avoid crypto fraud
- Use unique usernames and passwords while enabling multi-factor authentication.
- Use an offline private key, a physical device that requires manual activation, whenever you access your wallet.
- Avoid suspicious social media ads promoting fraudulent schemes.
- Only invest in crypto projects that you fully understand.
- Critically assess whether a project’s promises or returns seem too good to be true.
- Only use reputable platforms that have a track record of strong regulatory compliance.
- Store funds in hardware wallets as opposed to online exchanges.
Small Victories: The True Story of Faith No More by Adrian Harte
Jawbone Press
Guide to intelligent investing
Investing success often hinges on discipline and perspective. As markets fluctuate, remember these guiding principles:
- Stay invested: Time in the market, not timing the market, is critical to long-term gains.
- Rational thinking: Breathe and avoid emotional decision-making; let logic and planning guide your actions.
- Strategic patience: Understand why you’re investing and allow time for your strategies to unfold.
Paatal Lok season two
Directors: Avinash Arun, Prosit Roy
Stars: Jaideep Ahlawat, Ishwak Singh, Lc Sekhose, Merenla Imsong
Rating: 4.5/5
COMPANY%20PROFILE%20
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Jebel Ali Dragons 26 Bahrain 23
Dragons
Tries: Hayes, Richards, Cooper
Cons: Love
Pens: Love 3
Bahrain
Tries: Kenny, Crombie, Tantoh
Cons: Phillips
Pens: Phillips 2
HWJN
%3Cp%3EDirector%3A%20Yasir%20Alyasiri%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3EStarring%3A%20Baraa%20Alem%2C%20Nour%20Alkhadra%2C%20Alanoud%20Saud%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3ERating%3A%203%2F5%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
Starring: Jamie Foxx, Angela Bassett, Tina Fey
Directed by: Pete Doctor
Rating: 4 stars
Terminator: Dark Fate
Director: Tim Miller
Starring: Arnold Schwarzenegger, Linda Hamilton, Mackenzie Davis
Rating: 3/5
Game Changer
Director: Shankar
Stars: Ram Charan, Kiara Advani, Anjali, S J Suryah, Jayaram
Rating: 2/5
COMPANY PROFILE
Founders: Alhaan Ahmed, Alyina Ahmed and Maximo Tettamanzi
Total funding: Self funded
WHAT IS A BLACK HOLE?
1. Black holes are objects whose gravity is so strong not even light can escape their pull
2. They can be created when massive stars collapse under their own weight
3. Large black holes can also be formed when smaller ones collide and merge
4. The biggest black holes lurk at the centre of many galaxies, including our own
5. Astronomers believe that when the universe was very young, black holes affected how galaxies formed
The Africa Institute 101
Housed on the same site as the original Africa Hall, which first hosted an Arab-African Symposium in 1976, the newly renovated building will be home to a think tank and postgraduate studies hub (it will offer master’s and PhD programmes). The centre will focus on both the historical and contemporary links between Africa and the Gulf, and will serve as a meeting place for conferences, symposia, lectures, film screenings, plays, musical performances and more. In fact, today it is hosting a symposium – 5-plus-1: Rethinking Abstraction that will look at the six decades of Frank Bowling’s career, as well as those of his contemporaries that invested social, cultural and personal meaning into abstraction.
