Naysayers and the Super Bowl

Giants win the Super Bowl. By now, even most non-sports fans know this. However, if you listened to all the "experts" and "professionals" the Giants did not have a chance of winning this game. My mom, one of the aforementioned non-sports fans, was even rooting for the Giants because she heard so much about how the Patriots were going to win and how the Giants didn't have a chance. Being a fan of the underdog, Mom was strongly supporting the eventual champs.

Now the Giants could have rolled over at any time and said, "Hey, we are not supposed to win. Why bother putting in all the effort?" They were supposed to lose in the first round of the playoffs to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. It was a minor upset but an upset none-the-less when they beat the Bucs. Next they faced my beloved Dallas Cowboys. The Cowboys were the number one seed and suppposed to go to the Super Bowl representing the NFC. The Giants didn't have a chance. Why, they had already lost to the Cowboys twice in the regular season. This time it was a major upset when they won.

Next, it was the Packers on the "frozen tundra of Lambeau Field" in Green Bay, Wisconsin. The temperature at game time was -1 with a windchill of about -25. Again, the Giants were huge underdogs and now they were playing in the most deplorable conditions. Twice in the closing minutes, their kicker missed a field goal that could have won the game. (See my previous blog.) but they stuck with it and won the game in overtime.

And again in the Super Bowl, against a team playing to make history by going through the season undefeated, the Giants won in a major upset. All of the naysayers said it wouldn't done. Most said it couldn't be done. But the Giants did not listen. They set their minds on one thing and that was winning the NFL Championship in Super Bowl XLII.

Have you ever wanted to do something and someone told you that you could not do it? Maybe lots of someones. You weren't good enough to make the team, they said. You are not smart enough for college you were told. You can't get that job, you don't have the right skills. You can't go into business for yourself, you will fail. Is the Life Lesson that the Giants taught obvious enough now?

Don't let the naysayers stop you. Yes, you might not make the team if you try out, but if you practice and learn, you might. Maybe you have to take some remedial courses or start at a junior college or community college, or even have to hire a tutor, but I bet you can get that education. Maybe you don't have the job skills now but you can learn, get training, or finish the previously mentioned college degree, and there should be plenty of opportunities if you are willing to look. Finally, yes, maybe, if you start a business you might fail, but you might also succeed. You will never know unless you try.

Michael Strahan of the Giants said this, "If we are going to play the game, we might as well win." You may never shut up the naysayers, but you can sure quiet them for a while by winning.

(c) 2008 Eddy Seegers