Your comment puts me in mind of my new favorite spectator sport, timed professional cooking competitions (specifically, Chopped on the Food Network -- there's a collection of 25 shows available on Netflix), where I find this dichotomy is often in play.
I like trying to guess who will win the competition based on their profiles at the beginning. One of my rules: always pick the older classically trained chef (especially if he's French). In my extremely limited edited-for-tv experience, it's been a successful betting strategy. (Well, except in the cases where the chef, refusing to suffer the least mediocrity, fails to plate anything at all in the appetizer round. But even then, he was brought back for a "redemption" show and took the prize.)
I like trying to guess who will win the competition based on their profiles at the beginning. One of my rules: always pick the older classically trained chef (especially if he's French). In my extremely limited edited-for-tv experience, it's been a successful betting strategy. (Well, except in the cases where the chef, refusing to suffer the least mediocrity, fails to plate anything at all in the appetizer round. But even then, he was brought back for a "redemption" show and took the prize.)