Super Bowl thoughts

The game was ultimately a lopsided affair but it’s the kind of lopsided game I like – a great defensive performance and great strategy on offense and defense from the Buccaneers. I did turn it off after the third quarter but not because I was bored. In fact, I was expecting a Chiefs comeback right up until the third quarter ended. That they could only muster a field goal after halftime settled it fast. The situation for the Chiefs, particularly quarterback Patrick Mahomes, can be encapsulated here:

Meanwhile, Tom Brady and former WWE 24/7 champion Rob Gronkowski were connecting for touchdowns and reliving their New England glory days

Unfortunately, this win for Brady led to a really stupid question:

Is Tom Brady the best athlete ever?

Are y’all on crack? Serena Williams, Michael Phelps, Carl Lewis, Usain Bolt, Bill Russell, Tiger Woods. All winners more times over than Brady. Hell, Michael Jordan has six NBA titles, an NCAA championship and two Olympic gold medals. Wayne Gretzky has more individual accomplishments and a ton of titles himself.. Come on people, put the pipe down. Best quarterback ever? Yes, you can say that now without getting any argument from me. Best NFL player ever? I’ll listen to you. Best athlete ever? Not only no but hell no. And I’m not debating that.

There is a good take that can be gleaned from all this, though. Brady coming to the Bucs and winning it all should be an eternal affirmation of team sport athletes taking their destinies into their own hands and getting out of town when things aren’t right for them. Brady was right to get out of New England as things went south. Now we just need to apply that consistently to Deshaun Watson and others like Lebron James. When you reach a certain level, one where you are individually and specifically judged on how many titles you win, then you are well within your rights to get to a team where that’s more likely to happen. Period, end of story.

The idea that you should stay on a mediocre or bad roster, or with a bad organization and suffer with the hope of eventually winning (or winning again) the ‘right way’ is preposterous. And that goes double for guys like Brady and Lebron and yes, Deshaun Watson. When your entire career can be downgraded or invalidated because the teammates you were given to play with weren’t good enough to win a championship then you are well within your rights to get the best teammates you can get, whatever it takes. It was right for Tom, it’s been right for Lebron and it is right for Watson.

But besides that there were a few other things on display, like:

NFL Hypocrisy

No one says one thing and does something else quite like the good old National Football League. This time around we got a nice expose on players kneeling and protesting police brutality…..with zero mention of the blackballed Colin Kapernick. We get some nice tributes to first responders and front line workers while allowing twenty thousand people back in a stadium during a pandemic. That these tributes come from a league whose owners almost all support politicians who have demonstrably opposed making progress handling those issues is even more rich.

But the NFL is if nothing else the perfect microcosm of America, from the legitimate achievements and other good things to the outright sense of entitlement and stupidity to the excess to all the blind spots we possess as a society. They were all on display from the pregame poetry and performances to the game itself and all the bigwigs involved. You want a full picture of what America really is – the good, the bad, and the ugly – look no further

Other thoughts

Shout out to Bruce Arians for having the most diverse staff in NFL history.

This is proof that there’s nothing stopping anyone from hiring more coaches who aren’t white guys. Bruce insists that he wasn’t trying to make a statement but choosing not to pick the usual suspects for his staff, in a world where that has always been all the rage, is a statement unto itself. Hell, just seeking them out in the first place to give real opportunities and not token interviews is a statement. It shows that these folks are out there, they are qualified, and the only thing missing is the will to bring them in.

Lastly, the Halftime Show. I got nothing bad to say at all. The Weekend isn’t for me, and that’s fine. I know a few songs but that’s all, and I don’t need to be a fan of his at all. I’m 46 right now and they should get acts that are bigger with younger people. I already got to see U2 , Prince, Janet Jackson and other acts I grew up with perform there. If I want to see them on that setting I can watch the videos. The last thing they need to do is go on the McCartney/Rolling Stones/Who/Tom Petty/Springsteen run they went on before.

So all in all, a good time was had. Brady got number seven, and if you don’t like him there was a coaching staff worth being happy for. As for the Chiefs, there will be another day for Patrick Mahomet to get another ring I’m sure. So hail to the victors and until next year.