Super Bowl 50

As the football season comes to a close,  and we can see that a lot of players have been physically beaten, injured, and you can only wear so much padding to protect yourself from someone trying to beat the living crap out of you.  But what about the mental state? What goes on inside the head of football players? Well, the answer is quite a bit. How many of us have tried to make new year’s resolution to exercise more, and often fail to keep that, *cough cough* resolution.  Probably very few people. How is this connected to football? Well, if it is hard for you, imagine how hard it must be for a football player? An argument could be made saying they are used to it, and they have to keep in shape. But the reality is they are human too, and even though they are paid big money, they still have struggles like everyone else. So what separates football players from the average Joe? They have been able to discipline their mind to keep so physically fit.

The teams who did not go into the playoffs could have been ready to be done. It is very hard on the body, and that is reflected by the average number of years a player spends in the NFL. Kind of.  According to (http://www.businessinsider.com/nfls-spin-average-career-length-2011-4) there are various factors that play into how long a player stays, but the average player is going to stay in the NFL for 7 seasons. If a player has been in a couple of pro bowls, then apparently that number goes up to about 12 seasons.  But only 7 seasons, that is going to be 7 years not including working in the summer. When you think about it, they are roughly working about the same times of the year as school teachers are, just making way more money is all. But the idea here is that because playing in the NFL is very stressful both mentally and physically, they only choose to stick around for about 7 years before calling it quits. No one is going to last forever, especially in the NFL.

I kind of went off on a tangent, but by the time the teams are done with the regular season, many teams either are forced to or looking forward to be done. It is a mental challenge to continue on through the playoffs. Even with injuries, they still have to continue training. Needless to stay, the teams that did make it into the playoffs are probably very excited. Winning now matters more than ever, as a loss means they are done. As they are playing against better and better teams, that means the players have to continue their strength. The journey to the Super Bowl is not characterized by sprinting, but by lasting as long as you can, and maybe by sheer dumb luck in some cases. It does help there is a week in between each game. But as each team advances, the challenge becomes more difficult, in most cases. Unless you’re the Carolina Panthers, who’ve had a pretty easy playoff drive so far I think.

These two teams in the Super Bowl, the Denver Broncos and the Carolina Panthers, are going to have to play strong through the entire game. Because this is a team sport, it is very critical that each team member holds up their end. The entire game can be determined if one player decides not to give it their all for one play.  Or it could be that one team just happens to be dominating the other, and it doesn’t matter.  However, I hope the Super Bowl game is better than total domination of one team, I would expect it to be a good game where both teams are constantly fighting for the lead.

I hope each team fights hard, they will have to fight through fatigue, exhaustion, and of course the other team trying to win. There will only be so much each team can do, and maybe the whole game will come down to the very last play. That would be a great ending I think, lots of suspense and anticipation. But who will actually win? Let’s find out!!