It's Super Bowl 58 on Sunday, and the way the stars are aligning, it might well be possible for Callum and I to stay up and watch (at least part of it) live.
It will be an awful long time since I've done that.
I was a massive fan of American football in the 1980s when it used to be shown on Channel 4.
Washington was my team to start with, and then Chicago.
It was because I was a basketball player and I followed American sports, but then I moved on, and time disappeared, and I hadn't paid any attention to American football for the longest time.
I knew the teams mostly and the rules, but then it started to come back into my consciousness. Then last year, in early 2023, when we were in New York, I bought tickets for Callum, and I had to go to the MetLife (now announced as being the World Cup final stadium for the USA World Cup), and we watched the New York Giants right on the centre line qualify for the playoffs.
The point of this, though, is Patrick Mahomes.
We might be watching the development of another Michael Jordan in Patrick Mahomes, the 28-year-old Quarterback of the Kansas City Chiefs.
Things just seem to be happening for him, falling into place. He's about to participate in his fourth Super Bowl, and he's already won two and lost one.
He's taken Kansas City to the playoffs multiple times in a row after signing his $200 million contract extension after he was drafted.
His father was a professional baseball player, and you can get the whole history in the series called Quarterback on Netflix if you're interested. It is cracking.
The point is this, though. People are now beginning to talk about Mahomes as though he's creating a dynasty like a Jordan dynasty.
The most successful Quarterback in American football history was Tom Brady, recently retired, who won seven Super Bowls, but if Mahomes wins on Sunday, he's already on three, and he is absolutely in the running to break that record.
It is fun to watch as these things unravel and unfold like an early Tiger Woods or Roger Federer people who are going to define the sport for decades to come.
Like Jordan (I was a basketball player when Jordan was playing), we think these things are normal while they're going on, but they're not.
The secret, though, with these guys is the concept of preparation and opportunity, which goes beyond sport.
Steve Jobs knew all about it instinctively.
When he went back to Apple for the second time, he cut the company back by about 80%, getting rid of the people that he thought were not useful, moving forward, and all of the rest of the resources that he thought were wasteful.
He trimmed it back to about 20%, and when asked what he was doing, he said, "waiting for the next opportunity" When asked what the next opportunity would be, he said, "I don't know" he was preparing for the opportunity, and then he went.
When you watch Quarterback, and you see what Mahomes does and how he prepares, you understand that when the things happen in games, the minor moments where things can turn, he's able to do something special, something remarkable that other people can't see or can't execute.
He also has a will to win, a psychology that is above and beyond, as demonstrated by the episode where he rolled his ankle in the game and couldn't really walk but still managed to get them across the line.
It's something for us all to learn.
Overnight successes never ever happen overnight.
People prepare and then wait for the opportunity.
For many, it never comes, but they're still prepared. When it does come, if you've done the work, you can seize the moment.
Blog Post Number - 3713
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