Academic traditionalists in the cardiac surgical community are presently going through the 5 Kubler-Ross stages of grief in dealing with the residency work-hour restrictions imposed by the ACGME. Because this patient safety measure is largely based on the notion that tired and sleep-deprived physicians and surgeons are more prone to error, this study¹ represents an excellent attempt at determining whether fatigue compromises the technical performance and patient outcomes in the demanding discipline of cardiothoracic surgery. The authors cogently hypothesize that the maintenance of good outcomes under these circumstances might be attributed to the 鈥渢eam sport鈥� character of cardiac surgery and 鈥渂urned-in鈥� cognitive and technical skills and physiologic conditioning of consultant surgeons.