Jocks

You could write it off as the consequence of growing up... well, socially challenged. But while as a boy, I played baseball, football, and basketball in the neighborhood with all the other guys (and a few of the girls), I was never particularly good at it. Nor was I knowledgeable in the finer points of any of the games, much less conversant on the subject of professional competition. But last night, I watched the Super Bowl along with nearly 100 million other viewers. At first, it was to see the commercials. Not only have I always been interested in this highest form of creative advertising, but we've been talking about it in class this term. But then the rest of it got interesting.



I did manage to see the New York Giants more memorable moments, like when number 72, whoever that was (or was it Micheal Strahan?), sacked Patriots' quarterback Tom Brady in the third quarter, as if nothing in the world could stop him. And who could forget that completion in the end zone by Plaxico Burress, with only seconds left in the game, that finally clinched the title for the Giants?

Some would call the victory one of poetic justice. The Patriots had been the subject of a cheating scandal early in what would be an undefeated record. A win in the Super Bowl would have been the second perfect season since the Miami Dolphins in 1972. On the other hand, New York got creamed in their first two games, such that the owners were ready to throw out a coach with a heretofore winning record, until his impassioned speech to them persuaded them otherwise. Everybody in the Giants skybox was glad they backed that horse before the day was done.

Most of us forget the role that football has played in the American Catholic heritage. But Gerald Korson of Catholic Online remembers, and has shared with us the top ten Catholic heroes of the great match: "Professional football was long considered a 'Catholic' sport, drawing rugged players from the working class blue-collar immigrant families of which a good percentage were at least culturally Catholic." (h/t to Rich Leonardi.) When Saint Paul wrote to the Church of Corinth, in a city where the Greco-Roman games were immensely popular, he compared the quest for victory over eternal death with preparing for an athletic match. The discipline, the training, the anticipation, the honor of meeting an adversary on the field of battle -- these are the things that inspire one to greatness, both on and off the field.

Let's roll that clip one more time -- maybe not a "Hail Mary pass," but at least worthy of a "Glory Be!!!"

(POSTSCRIPT: The best place on the internet to review all this year's Super Bowl commercials, as well as see how they rated with the audience, is at USA Today. You can also see them at YouTube, as well as at a special My Space page.)
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