Hickory Park – Loud, raucous, incredibly American. TVs surrounded my family and me as the New England Patriots and Tom Brady took the field for Super Bowl LI against the Atlanta Falcons. The Patriots – the Evil Empire for so long that to me the paradigm had shifted. While the public, my friends, and seemingly everyone outside of Massachusetts was rooting against them, to me they had become an underdog. I hadn’t forgotten the sham that was Deflategate two years ago, nor the four-game suspension Brady took as a result. I hadn’t forgotten the magical ending of that year’s Super Bowl either – to me so fitting after the tribulations they had faced throughout the year. To me, Brady’s story was the ultimate story of an underdog – constantly overlooked, having to prove himself year in and year out.
Despite all of that, it seemed like I was the only one in my small Iowa town rooting against the Falcons. And when the game kicked off, and Atlanta drove down the field to score a touchdown, the room exploded with celebration. When they scored again, celebration followed, with more cheering and chanting. When Brady threw the pick-six to make it 21-3, I could see the game falling apart. Brady was going to lose, I was going to lose, and in my mind, America was going to lose. Up until that point in my life, I had always believed that hard work, the constant grind, would always be able to overcome talent and circumstance. Even if the odds were against you, even if the entire world was against you, it still didn’t matter where you came from – whether you were a 6th-round pick who had to fight your way into a starting position in the NFL, or if you, like my parents, immigrated to the United States to fight for an education and a better life for your family. If you put in the work, good things would follow. So when the Patriots went into the half down 21-3, I could see my entire worldview falling to pieces. But we know how the game ended. The Patriots, down 28-3 with half of the 3rd quarter remaining, drove down the field. 28-9. 28-12. 28-20 and then the Julian Edelman catch over the middle, desperately holding on the the football as defenders surrounded him, me desperately holding on to the American Dream. 28-26 and the two-point conversion to tie the game. And when James White punched it in and I heard Joe Buck’s exclamation: “Patriots win the Super Bowl! Brady has his fifth! What a comeback!”, I felt validated. Not only on the result of the game, of course, but also in my belief that incredible odds were only there to be overcome. As Brady overcame his circumstances to make it in the NFL, I resolved I would make the best of mine.