In spite of all the hubbub, and adrenaline-stoked nonsense, it was a great game. Two really good teams playing their hearts out. I am a long-time Chicago Bears fan. You know, the "love" of football is carried down thru my male ancestral line: my father, father's father, my grandfather, my grandfather's father. It's a weird, brutal game, with lots of silly, arcane rules, and quirky plays. Sit down sometime and try to explain the game to someone who never saw a game. Difficult to do. Basically, large men, running around with a pigskin in hand, pummeling each other on a field of green. But there is beauty, strategy, atheletic excellence to be found in every play of every game. Look close enough and the whole damn human experience is to be found between the goal lines. Striving for success, crushing failure, blood, guts and glory.
I don't really get emotionally caught up in football games any more. I am a bit more neutral, "intellectual" or "academic" about it. Maybe it would be different if the Bears were good again. Often I don't watch a game, but during the season, I always read Peter King's writeup on Monday mornings. He is an incedibly great reporter and sports-writer, he is long-time football fan, keen observer, always brings the drama alive. Always has surprising insights too. His column this morning about yesterday's Super Game is exquisite as usual.
Yeah, and Patrick Mahomes. The Bears could have drafted him and whiffed. OMG. He is the "Michael Jordan" of Football, no doubt. A Superstar in a Super game. He thrives under pressure, get's better when the shit goes down. Just like Michael. Plus he is a total wild-card. A bit of a Lucky Fool. A fool who makes his own luck. Can easily improvise, break an opponent's back and spirit with total creative abandon, joy and precision. Pretty amazing.
Andy Reid, Mahomes coach, talking to Peter King about his QB, Patrick Mahomes:
“He makes the difficult look easy,” Reid told me in his Allegiant Stadium office post-game, “at the highest possible level in the whole world. There’s only 32 in the whole world, and he’s the special of the special. I watched Tom Brady turn the keys over to him which was cool. Tom said, ‘Hey, this is your league now, man.’ Patrick’s humble, he’s competitive, he’s a great teammate, good father. He does it the right way. It’s great for young guys to see. It’s not just God-given. It’s what you do with what God gives you. Every day he comes in the huddle, he goes, ‘Let’s be great today.’ Every day. You know he means it.”
You know, pretty damn inspiring. I mean, I know it all sounds totally cliche too. But, sometimes, the cliches are very useful in explaining the cool & amazing. Really.
