February 6, 2017
Once every year we put aside our differences and together watch the same football game. This year the heavily favored New England Patriots faced the Atlanta Falcons. The game started out with the so called under-dog team shutting out the Patriots. Spencer, my son, was routing for the Falcons and by half time was chanting “game over”. For three quarters of the game Atlanta held a commanding lead. A lead so great a comeback from this far down had never been achieved in Super Bowl history.
After the longest Super Bowl in history was over, my son was very disappointed. I spoke to him about sportsmanship and as I spoke to him I drew some life lessons that apply in everyday life.
Lesson 1: Never Give up
When the Patriots looked up and saw a 28 to 3 score, it would have been understandable if they would have said, “Well this thing is over”. This was the Patriots seventh Super Bowl appearance and they did not get to be the AFC Champions by just accepting their fate. Even though a 25 point deficit has never been over-come in Super Bowl history (maybe not even in NFL history) the Patriots di not give up. After a half time “peep” talk, I wish I would been privy to, Julian Edelman made a catch no-one could ever make. A toss from Tom Brady that had no chance of being caught was plucked out of the air just before it hit the ground and Edelman held on to it as his weight and the weight of a falcon came down on his left shoulder. When the dust settled Edelman still had the ball in his hand. This was just an example of the renewed focus and dedication that New England brought to the second half. The patriots were able to rally and eventually bring in a win during over-time despite having been out played for 45 minutes of the game. This win was not achieved by luck or skill but by sheer determination to achieve greatness. The take away from this lesson. Things may look bleak, everyone around may say it can’t be done but if you know it CAN be done, you will succeed. Coach Vince Lombardi said: “The real glory is being knocked to your knees and then coming back. That's real glory. That's the essence of it.”
Lesson 2: No matter the lead, it’s not over till the clock reads zero.
I think to some extent the Falcons were thinking the same thing as my son by half time. It was Game Over, this was their victory and they just had to relax and wait until the end of the fourth quarter when they would put their finger-prints on the Lombardi trophy. While the Patriots took the extra-long half time to perform some much needed introspection, the Falcons came out with the exact same game plan. The third quarter started with Atlanta looking strong, just as they had in the first half, but soon, the Patriots were able to make their adjustments and answer the Falcons lead with some of the needed points to close the 25 point gap. The game came down to a two point conversion late in the fourth quarter to tie the game. The Patriots held the falcons on their final possession of the game and forced the game into the first ever over time in a Super Bowl. The Clock read zero and the board showed a tie of 28 to 28. The once sure thing had slipped away and a new game had started. Stunned, the Falcons watched as Tom Brady marched his team onto a fourth Super Bowl win, another Super Bowl first. The take away here is never assume just because things are good they will stay that way forever, make plans to assess your weaknesses and double down on your strengths. Don’t relax until that clock reads zero, not even for a moment.
Lesson 3: It’s ok to mess up, get over it
For the first forty five minutes of the game, New England was facing two opponents. The Falcons were executing a near perfect game plan and the Patriots were literally doing the opposite. While Atlanta was performing as a single cohesive unit and executing a well thought out game plan, the Patriots were making huge mistakes and were their own second opponent. To put it bluntly New England had messed up big time! Late in the game, somehow, they collectively took a breath, readjusted, looked at the situation differently and evaluated on-the-fly what they as a team were doing wrong. The team under Bill Belichick leadership “got over” the fact that they had stunk the last forty five minutes and said “You know what we still have 15 minuets left, let’s do this thing!” The New England Patriots did what had never been done in a Super Bowl, they came back from a huge deficit and forced the game into over-time . The take away from this lesson. Go ahead, mess up it’s ok. Learn from your mistakes, get over the fact that you’re not perfect, adjust and make a good situation out of a bad one.
Lesson 4: Things aren’t always what they appear.
At one point towards the end of the game, two opposing players ( Falcons DE Dwight Freeney and Patriots TE Martellus Bennett) were standing very close together. Too close. The referee came over to break up the starting fight, but when he arrived found that the two players facemasks were interlocked. Both players took off their helmets and were able to resolve the interlock. The final lesson from this game was, don’t jump to conclusions! Just because something looks bad there are many ways to look at the same situation. If you don’t like the way something looks in your life look for a new way to look at the situation.
I finish up this article with one more quote from Vince Lombardi:
“Perfection is not attainable, but if we chase perfection we can catch excellence. The price of success is hard work, dedication to the job at hand, and the determination that whether we win or lose, we have applied the best of ourselves to the task at hand.”
Remember, Life is beautiful. If life does not seem beautiful at the moment find a new way to look at the situation. Take time to assess what you’re doing and make plans to adjust anything you have messed up. Remember to forgive yourself, get over your mistakes and give yourself permission to win. These are this years lessons from a simple football game played on just another February Sunday.
Yours in service,
Chuck Bradford,
Mayor - City of Mantorville
MantorvilleMayor@Gmail.Com
MayorBradford.BlogSpot.com
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