Intellectual Swagger

Last week i had the opportunity to watch TVJ's school challenge quiz.
This is one of the longest running television programs in Jamaica that pits high schools against each other in test of quick thinking and knowledge.

The match was Spanish Town High vs Manchester High. To be honest Spanish town was not bad, and against a newer non traditional  high school they might have done very well. But Manchester was packin.
Up until the middle of the second segment Spanish town was holding its own but in the final minutes Manchester asserted there dominance. By the time we got to the final round Spanish town crumpled under the weight of their own self doubt.

The truth is they were good enough to put up a good fight, but you saw when they lost faith. They knew the answers but they let the intellectual swagger of the Manchester team intimidate them. In some ways it was sad to watch, had they just kept believing they might have pulled an upset but the almost militant focus exhibited by the Manchester team as they systematically attacked each question was too much for them.

It is this display of mental fortitude and focus I call intellectual swagger.