I did not have a dog in the fight of Super Bowl XLIX (pronounced Ex-Ell-Eye-Ex). My only speck of preference lay in the fact that my wife’s bike sports Seahawks colors. But I did appreciate the fact that, as seems to happen more often than not in recent years, it was a good game that went down to the wire. I just knew, when Russel Wilson had the ‘Hawks on the two-yard line with twenty seconds to go that they would hand the ball to the human battering ram of Marshawn Lynch and then celebrate like madmen. Instead, they threw what, in hindsight, seems an ill-advised pass and a relative unknown, Malcolm Butler, stepped in front of the receiver and earned himself a lasting place in the hearts of Patriots fans.
Was Butler just lucky? To some degree, he was, but to a much larger degree he was not. He had studied game film. He knew his assignment and he knew what plays the Seahawks might run. He came into that game prepared. If he weren’t someone who prepared, he would not have been on the field, or on the team, or in the league.
Sometimes, making the big play, whether it be as a cornerback or a musician or a lawyer or a student, comes down to preparing yourself every day to do the right thing at the right time. That’s why people learn to do CPR or to fight off an attacker or to do any of a thousand less dramatic but nearly as important tasks. What you do with your day today will dictate how well you will be positioned should you find yourself standing in the wrong end zone with the Super Bowl on the line and the ball heading into your neighborhood. Congratulations, Malcolm Butler. You got yourself ready and destiny came within your grasp.
Perhaps we can learn something from that example.
How to Win a Super Bowl
Was Butler just lucky? To some degree, he was, but to a much larger degree he was not. He had studied game film. He knew his assignment and he knew what plays the Seahawks might run. He came into that game prepared. If he weren’t someone who prepared, he would not have been on the field, or on the team, or in the league.
Sometimes, making the big play, whether it be as a cornerback or a musician or a lawyer or a student, comes down to preparing yourself every day to do the right thing at the right time. That’s why people learn to do CPR or to fight off an attacker or to do any of a thousand less dramatic but nearly as important tasks. What you do with your day today will dictate how well you will be positioned should you find yourself standing in the wrong end zone with the Super Bowl on the line and the ball heading into your neighborhood. Congratulations, Malcolm Butler. You got yourself ready and destiny came within your grasp.
Perhaps we can learn something from that example.
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