Super Bowl quarterback Jalen Hurts reminds us of the power of precision

The authenticity of the quote might be debatable, but not its deliciousness. “I ain’t afraid to love a man,” said the legendary markswoman Annie Oakley in the late 1800s, “(but) I ain’t afraid to shoot him either.” Fortunately, when it came to her husband, she simply shot cigarettes out of his mouth using an ancient rifle. At other times she hit objects behind her by resting her rifle on her shoulder and looking into a mirror.

Accuracy often feels incomprehensible, something other-worldly practised by a separate species. In the Olympic archery final in 2024, competed across 70m, the gold and silver medallists were divided by millimetres. Elsewhere, Novak Djokovic, using a slide rule as a racket in his calculating prime, hit lines as if just for fun. No wonder watch manufacturers sponsor athletes, for they probably view them as equally complex precision instruments.