There is something eating away at me about the whole "it is what it is" theme that I can't shake. Maybe I'm taking it out of context, but I just can't get a grip on what it is we're supposed to take away from "it is what it is." Is it that the coaches, players and fans are supposed to just accept things the way they are? The phrase reeks with resignation, acceptance and contentment, and I am not content with the way things are. I want to know that if it is what is is, it ain't gonna stay that way for long. I want to hear fire. I want to hear passion. I want to be motivated into believing that things do not have to remain as they are. Just imagine our world today if the prevalent attitude had always been "it is what it is..."

"If at first you don't succeed, it is what it is."

"Whether you think you can or you think you can't, it is what it is."

"United we stand, divided it is what it is."

"Some men see things as they are and say why? I dream things that never were and say--meh, it is what it is."

"December 7, 1941 - a day that is what it is."

"Houston, Tranqility Base here. It is what it is."

"We hold these truths to be self-evident, that it is what it is."

Friends, Romans, countrymen, lend me your ears! It is what it is."

"Fourscore and seven years ago, it was what it was...and um...now it is what it is."

"And when this happens, when we allow freedom to ring, when we let it ring from every village and every hamlet, from every state and every city, we will be able to speed up that day when all of God's children, black men and white men, Jews and Gentiles, Protestants and Catholics, will be able to join hands and sing in the words of the old Negro spiritual: "It is what it is at last! It is what it is at last! Thank God Almighty, it just is what it is at last!"

"It is what it is" just isn't going to cut it with me. Any other examples?