I watched history being made the night of February 3, 2019. The most boring Super Bowl of all time, with a total of 16 points between teams, with the overwhelmingly favored (not desired) New England Patriots as six-time Champions. The highlights of the Super Bowl included Joe Montana, Dick Butkus, Larry Csonka, Jim Brown and other NFL veterans scrambling for an old football, as well as Chance the Rapper in a duet with the Backstreet Boys and Adam Levine showing more breast than Janet Jackson. I should have watched Equalizer 2 again.
I choked on my popcorn when Patriots coach Bill Belichick and quarterback Tom Brady mentioned how “No one thought we could win…” I know, I’m drinking a Magnum-sized bottle of Hateorade. The Patriots positioning themselves as “underdogs” before the championship game had me considering how that is actually an admirable trait.
New England is respecting the LA Rams by saying that “No one expects us to win.” The Patriots are saying that previous victories do not excuse hard work and preparation for the next challenge. If Tom Brady was a rapper, he’d be bragging about his six rings, his nine-figure salary, his supermodel wife’s nine-figure salary (which is higher than his), how handsome he is, how no one can touch him, etc. And that’s not how true winners act.
Sure, you want to celebrate a major accomplishment , and being victorious over and over again is no small feat. And respecting your peers across the league, not trash talking opponents, keeping your head up in victory AND defeat (The Patriots also lost more games in the regular season than sports analysts predicted) is something we need to instill in our future adults. Haters (like me) say the Patriots cheat; the team does not engage in social media fights, letting the work speak for itself. I find it hard to judge the Patriots’ mood during a game – if you don’t know the score you may think they are losing when they are actually ahead. The proof is in the results, not the bragging. Coach Belichick has been known to start looking at game films as soon as the current game is over, to prepare for the next opponent. No hare laughing at the turtle mentality. As Sly Stallone says, “That’s how winning is done!”
Sometimes the hardest thing to do is when after a person gives you a big compliment, that you limit your response to “Thank You.” And you should.
From the Desk of Daddy D 