Super Bowl XLIX

superbowlxlix

Another year, another insanely good season of football filled with all the expected fun and unexpected twists, despite an additional whole bunch of terrible things. If this year proved anything it’s that we are a very forgiving, and very obsessed nation. In terms of the NFL being bad, we may have seen the worst. And yet, football still represents so much good and so much fun. It’s a hard thing to accept.

Lucky as we are, we managed to reach a Super Bowl with two of the most fascinating teams you could dream of matching up. These teams each embody very unique and extremely opposing characteristics. A team who’s been dominant for 15 years, but hasn’t won a Super Bowl since 2004 vs a team who has spent a long time rebuilding and finally has a shot of dominance for themselves. If Seattle wins, they’ll be the first team to win back to back since that 2004 Patriots victory. Pete Carroll—a coach known for his high energy and player support—will be facing the coach who replaced him at New England—a coach who’s known for being divisive and unlikable. A high charged offense vs the best defense in the league. There are plenty of these interesting comparisons.

However, the most interesting thing happening in this clash is the difference between attitudes in their respective super stars, and the inspiration for what I created. Tom Brady stands as one of the most respected quarterbacks of all time, each year inching closer to being called and even being deserving of the title of best of all time. Recently, he was involved in the rumor mill of “deflate gate” which to me says the Patriots are still a team of tricky dicks and Tom Brady is the Nixonest of them all. It’s hard not to compare him to Seattle’s most eccentric player, Marshawn Lynch, and the news he’s been stirring in his refusal to properly play along in press conferences. Choosing to not answer any questions, he’s showing up to take the fine. Each of these guys in the news, each causing headaches for the league, and yet they couldn’t be more different. One stands as being a scoop of vanilla, yes sir-ing and no ma’am-ing his way into the hall of fame, and the other stands as a melting cone upside down on the sidewalk—crotch grabbing his way into the end zone. Tom Brady might be the greatest quarterback of all time, but Marshawn Lynch is the greatest player right now. With any hope Lynch will take home the MVP and we can all look forward to the hour long MVP press conference in which he’ll certainly say nothing. The two of these guys opposing each other in a Super Bowl is a treat to all of is. No secret, I’m rooting for the Seahawks.

Super Bowl XLVI

 

The Super Bowl. A game where people come together to watch their favorite team beat the other guy. Or watch a team they like beat a team they don’t like. Or in my case, watch two teams they don’t like play a rematch of a Super Bowl game that happened just four years ago. Yeah, the New York Giants vs the New England Patriots. It’s not ideal, it’s pretty far from it… I actually can’t think of a worse possible outcome, but regardless, I’ll be watching. And hopefully before game time I can be nudged centimeters to one side or the other so I can root for someone.

I’ve made it a habit of making posters for the Super Bowl for the past few years, and so I did again this year. Whether or not you like football, watching the Super Bowl is fun. But I find it hard that people don’t like football.

I mean, in the words of the great Jason Street #6:

Kid: Mr. Street, do you think God loves football?
Jason: I think that everybody loves football.