The Super Bowl: An Epic Human Drama 552.2
You don’t have to be a theater enthusiast to appreciate grand tales about the human heart and soul from great plays like Oedipus Rex or King Lear. And you don’t have to be a sports fan to appreciate lessons of human spirit taught by great plays during athletic contests.
Yesterday’s Super Bowl game between the undefeated New England Patriots, heralded as the most powerful team ever, and the underdog New York Giants will doubtless achieve epic status.
Both sides fought well, but it was the last-minute heroics of the Giants’ battlefield leader, Eli Manning, which won the day and a place in history. The drama of Eli’s story is enriched by his emphatic emergence from the shadow of his older brother, Peyton, the hero of a similar battle last year.
The phrase “last minute” is not a literary device. There was literally less than a minute to go when Eli stunned more than a hundred million witnesses by escaping the grasp of a mob of clawing opponents to complete a pass to a leaping teammate who made an extraordinary catch.
This forever memorable play set up the ultimate death blow to the Patriots’ pursuit of sports immortality, producing a victory all the more momentous because Eli and his men defeated Tom Brady, a warrior with a Herculean reputation.
The defeat was a bitter blow to New England’s general, Bill Belichick, a man both admired and reviled for his brilliance and single-minded focus on winning.
Belichick was caught cheating earlier in the year and is now being accused of dishonoring his team and sport by walking off the field moments before the game was over.
Whether his unexpected defeat was unrelated to this moral cloud or a triumph of justice is the sort of question that makes this a classic human tragedy.
This is Michael Josephson reminding you that character counts.
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Comments
Your commentary this morning struck a cord. You talked about how great Manning was in yesterday's super bowl and the poor sportsmanship by Belichick for walking off the field before the last play went off, but have you forgotten the day Eli Manning was drafted?
Eli was the first round pick and was selected by the Chargers even after he said he was prepared to sit out the season if they chose him. I’d call this poor sportsmanship. He made a mockery of the draft.
Posted by: Gloria | February 5, 2008 9:37 AM
i believe the super bowl is an excuse for both men and women to call off work and just stay home. I do not understand the relevance to this article and how it involves character.
Posted by: Maria De leon | February 6, 2008 10:48 AM
i'm not a sports fan, but i'm glad i watched the Super Bowl. i agree with you. You dont have to be a sports fan to appreciate lessons of the human spirit that have been taught by these great athletes.
Posted by: Jazmine Perez | February 6, 2008 10:57 AM
yes character does count. thank you michael. i share stories like this to my sons 11 and 19 all of the time and about having moral courage - to do the right thing no matter what the cost!
Posted by: kendall l. mccarthy | February 8, 2008 12:51 PM
Lack of integrity, honor, character, respect, trustworthiness and character do not appear to be tenets of the sports industry.
From drug abuse to marriage infidelity, doping, rape investigations, tax evasion, game betting and let’s not forget Michael Vick’s appalling torture of pit bulls and the list goes on and on.
The media hardly features articles about athletes who exemplify good character and I believe there are many that do. Still it is difficult not to be disgusted by the foul contributions of many top athletes. Hence, Belichick's pathetic single minded cheating just seems like more of the same.
Posted by: sonja | February 9, 2008 8:28 AM
Hooray for your comments regarding the super bowl.
I know of another guy who rejected the draft and won the greatest Super Bowl of all time. A person of enormous wealth offered to give him the whole world but he refused
and went through all kinds tribulation but he won. His name was "Jesus"
Posted by: Robert iller | February 9, 2008 1:52 PM
While Bill Belichick is without question a great coach, as was his mentor/father before him, not knowing much about his father I can only wonder if he was as poor of a sport as his son turned out to be???
Posted by: Matt Jacobs | February 9, 2008 8:22 PM
I would like to add, Michael, that sport does not build character. Rather, as we all saw for ourselves, it reveals the character of the participants.
Perhaps this will help answer the question of the blog poster who questioned the relevance of this commentary.
Posted by: Serginho | February 10, 2008 4:02 PM
Your comments re the Super Bowl are right on. "Coach" Belechik showed a lack of support for his team, who gave it their all, but also sore loser quality by abandoning his team before the clock ran out.
Posted by: John Foulkes | February 11, 2008 7:00 AM