So now that the confetti is long since cleaned up and sits disintegrating in some New Jersey landfill, what's the take away from all this? Why do I keep circling back to that dominating win in my mind? Why does it matter?
Before proceeding, let's be clear: it doesn't matter. Of course not. Some one-percenters gave each other concussions. A bunch of Americans watched TV. That's all that happened. Nothing more. Everyone who was sick, depressed, lonely, heart-broken, grieving, unemployed, etc, on February 2nd continued to be so on February 3rd--and even if they weren't anymore, it was surely for reasons unrelated to the Superbowl.
And yes, yes, Seattle's long, dark night of sports mediocrity has at last been broken in the major sports (sorry Soccer and WNBA), but what of that? Seattle was already an awesome city to live in, the Superbowl didn't change that, or even could have changed that.
But what of the Cinderella story, of all those 3rd round, 5th round, 7th round, undrafted picks that made up the team roster, the Rudys who made the big show, the Island of Misfit Toys who won the Superbowl? Surely there's something at least inspiring about that, right? Most everyone can identify with the passed-over kids who turn around and win the big game.
Yet as we all know, it's not enough to merely win. Plenty of Dr. Faustus's have sold their souls to win, and what hollow, miserable victories those have all been. No, far more important is how you win. And this, this is why the Seahawk's resounding Superbowl victory still matters to me, why it matters how they won:
Because they had fun doing it! They didn't simply work hard (as though literally everyone else who makes it to the NFL didn't), they didn't merely commit or dedicate or other such joyless adjectives, no: they had fun playing football! They recognized, refreshingly enough, that football really is just a game, and that the only valid reason to play it is because it's fun!
That's what kept coming up in all those interviews, in all the post-game analyses of which I've read far too many: how Pete Carroll "kept it loose" in the locker-room, playing pick-up games of basketball with the players, spontaneously running routes with them on the field, playing their favorite music in practice, joking with them, playing with them. Remember that before the Superbowl, one of the most constant criticisms leveled against him (besides, you know, the USC stuff) was that this 62 year old looked like some sort of JV middle-school coach, jumping up and down along the sidelines and hollering and waving his arms about like a goofball. There was none of the grim seriousness of, say, a Jim Harbough, or the dignified sense of destiny of some Vince Lombardi. It seemed to genuinely offend some folks that Pete Carroll would treat the most popular sport in America for exactly what it is: a game! That you play for fun!
Consider Marshawn Lynch dancing to his favorite Oakland rap artists in the locker room and chomping down on skittles, and the easy rapport of the players (remember Doug Baldwin calling Richard Sherman "mediocre" at his own press-conference), the posturing, the "excessive celebration" that offended so many, the trash-talk, yes, even Sherman's, for as every athlete will tell you, trash-talk is part of the sport, part of the fun. It's only an insult if you take yourself too seriously.
And the result of all this playfulness? The Seahawks were loose, relaxed, and confident throughout the Superbowl, while the Broncos (whom I deep down suspect took themselves far too seriously) tightened up and collapsed. A more serious-minded Seahawks squad, quite frankly, would probably have wilted in the face of the beatific aura of The Manning and all the historical weight he carried about him.
Bah! Guys, it's just a football game! The Seahawks knew this; they repeatedly said they played the Superbowl like it was just any other game. It isn't some Arthurian Quest or Second Coming or World War III! No lives are on the line. Don't use your battle-field metaphors on me, as though we didn't already have real war to sober us: Football is just a sport, a game! If you aren't just having fun when you play football, then you're doing it wrong!
Please don't misunderstand, I'm not trying to denigrate football here, quite the opposite in fact: for what the Seahawks resounding victory has reminded me is of the great importance of play, of just having fun, in all that we do! Even in our most earnest endeavors, in the things we care about most--especially in the things we care about most--one must be playful if one is to do it at all! When I teach college English, what I repeatedly tell my students is that, for as difficult and infuriating as the writing process can be, if you're not having fun when you write, then you're doing it wrong! It's something I have to constantly remind myself, too.
Same thing goes for dancing, or music, or the arts, or even science, technology, math, medicine, and business--like sports, they all require great discipline and skill to excel at, but please don't forget that the whole reason you got into this game in the first place is because you enjoyed it! Because it's fun! And God help you if you ever forget that sense of fun: the Holy Spirit is offended, the heavens close, and Amen to the power and authority of that man. You may even somehow still manage to win, but what a hollow victory that will be.
And the first step to having fun is to quit taking yourself so freakin' seriously! When on Earth did we begin to think it was a virtue to be so serious all the time? Why did we think it was better to be a miserable drudge during our limited days in this life? Why are we so afraid to actually enjoy what we do?
So very few things in this life really deserve to be taken seriously. Football isn't one of them. Nor ourselves. And as I stare down my growing pile of homework and research and all the pressure in academia to publish or perish and to anticipate the job market and follow the latest theories and the trendiest topics and to take my career oh so seriously--my how seriously!--I often have to remind myself how most of this doesn't matter either, that the reason why I got into this crazy field in the first place is: because it's fun! And I deeply suspect that if I don't have fun with my reading and writing and thinking, then I'm doing it wrong, that I'll never succeed in this field (or any field for that matter) if I don't start playing, and enjoying myself more!
The Seahawks reminded me of this.
And that's why I keep circling back to the significance of the Seahawks convincing Superbowl victory: because the folks who just played for fun, the ones who actually enjoyed the game as a game, are the ones who won! And they didn't just win, they won well! For play and fun and joy aren't just mental necessities by which to keep our sanity in an increasingly insane world: play and fun and joy are how you actually succeed! How much happier would our lives be if we quit taking ourselves so seriously, and just enjoyed the game for its own sake.
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