Super Bowl LI Reflection

This year’s big game between New England and Atlanta gave fans, for or against, neutral or apathetic something to marvel at or at least pay attention to. Like any great movie this game had a protagonist the past champion Patriots and the antagonist, a bunch of dirty birds. Hitchcock qualities yet unscripted. The villain that is New England, the only team in professional sports to represent a region, six states. By the way the Pats need one more Lombardi to reach six then symbolically will have the whole region covered with a championship. You had the unsavory Belichick and scandalous Brady of deflate game notoriety looking to put another dagger in the Goodell heart when he would have to acknowledge and present a trophy to the bad boys of the NFL who have unbridled disdain for the commish. And if the aforementioned is not enough what about the Falcons who have to deal with one of the biggest debacles in pro sports history. This game had it all, no I’m not referring to Lady Gaga’s performance and drones.

Is there something to take away from SBLI that has gone unnoticed? I believe there is. Confidence, confidence, confidence. You got it. The human spirit/soul when belief intersects with performance you get a concoction of confidence. I’m not suggesting Atlanta did not have confidence, they did, and were taking it to New England but conversely the Pats had to have confidence in the face of adversity or the outcome wouldn’t measure up.

The mental game of sports often goes unnoticed and we focus on the stats, which is a direct result of the player or team’s mental game which at its core is rooted in confidence. Confidence is attained by positive results but also is needed in the throes of defeat. The Patriots mental game was off the charts, they had confidence that the goal was attainable when the majority of the world thought otherwise especially in the 3^rd qtr down 28-3. I’m confident Dan Quinn will have his Falcons back in the mix but in the meantime I’m confident the Patriots will go down as the best team ever under Belichick and Brady.

Ron Meyer is the Creator and Host of Blessed2Play a 30 min weekly radio program that uncovers the inspirational lives of athletes and sports professionals from around the country.