The bench gives you something the field never will: a clear view of the whole game.

Being out of the action is frustrating and it comes with a vantage point nobody in the middle has. From the side you can see the shape of it, the patterns, the places where things keep breaking down, all of which is invisible when you are inside the noise. Sitting is not the same as wasting the time. It depends entirely on what you do with your eyes.

If you are on the outside of something right now, study it and write down what you notice. When you get back in, you will know things the people who never left do not.