Well it’s over. Once again the Superbowl is played out, the halftime show is over, players went home, commercials are uploaded to YouTube, and I think some of my NYC podiatry patients are still making their way from the stadium to Secaucus Junction to catch the New Jersey Path train. It wasn’t much of a contest this year, and the victory was boringly lopsided. But it was a contest of some of the most talented, well trained, largest, and highly paid athletes in the world. And there is a take home lesson in there.
Years of practice, training, hard work, victory and defeat lead up to the ultimate game in what is both the most competitive test of will and the most American commercial display of unabashed, full frontal capitalism. Fortunately, we all have a little bit of this in us. Football may not be our game, but something is. We all have our talents. The players on the field have taken the skills that were discovered at a young age and honed them through hard work, practice and dedication, and yes, monetized them. Through all the years of work, they have become the best, the top of their game. And even though Peyton Manning may not have quite lived up to the hype at the most important moment, he will still go down as one of the best.
All of my NYC podiatry patients have the potential to be the best. Whether it’s running an ultra-marathon, a marathon, a half or even around the block. We all can become better runners, football players, writers, readers, parents, citizens, or people. And we only need compete against ourselves, not necessarily against a team of equally, or sometimes, more talented players on the other side of the gridiron. Some may see the Superbowl as the commercialization of sports, or a boring football game, or an excuse to sit on the couch and eat nachos and drink beer. I see it as an example to watch what happens when talented people, and ordinary people, work hard, apply themselves, and rise to the top, get tackled, fall down, and then get up again, and run into the end zone for a victory dance. Let’s take that home.
See you in the office.
Ernest Isaacson
