“TO BE OR NOT TO BE, Coach”…that is the question, the Seattle Sea Hawks before an audience of millions and his Microsoft owner- benefactor watching, Pete Carroll, the former USC mentor and New York Jet grandmaster before he was fired,was left to his own neurons, in calling on Divinity, in those desperate two and a half minutes of the Super Bowl’s fate...
His adversary, those bonding twin souls….coach Bill Belichickand quarterback Tom Brady.
II
“What could he be thinking?” asked the basketball radioconnoisseurs
parsing the Knick- Celtics ….”from downtown..into the paint..he fires a jumper….’”
III
Pete Carroll into his victory…. “twelve” 12 fingers held high as a 61 year old matinee idol got a sonic roar from the Seattle fans, responding to the coach’s Knute Rockne “Win one for theGipper” motivational “speech” to the fans, thousands and thousands of them, basking in the Sea Hawks overtime victoryversus the Green Bay Packers in the NFL overtime victory two weeks earlier.
IV
“How could he sleep?” asked the basketball connoisseurs from the greatest arena on the planet.
“Didn’t he see Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan “Sleepless in Seattle”? “The Sea Hak?” with Errol Flynn?”
V
“Go with your gut, coach. You knew the “Pet Rocks” were consummate winners. The organization from the owner, his wife, son were geniuses. The Super Bowl Lombardi ( born inSheepshead Bay, Brooklyn) trophy in their Victory Parades….three time momentum.
Where did the coach’s neurons metamorphose? Play it safe?? Fear of losing? An optimistic take without the home crowd’sapproval, playing in Phoenix, Arizona.
No number twelve! Millions searching the coach’s soul,transmitting his signal to his quarterback who a few plays earlier passed a juggling miracle to a tall behemoth who snagged it in the red zone.
Could the Seahawks and coach Carroll replicate their overtime victory against the Green Bay mystique?
VI
Pass? Run? For the win?
It was coach Carroll’s call as he had at USC and the New York Jets and even the Patriots for a season, before……and in thosemoments of “win one for the Gipper”, did he play it safe? Not to go into another gear? Run!
VII
On the two and half yard line, the quarterback did as he was toldfrom the sidelines, losing his edge. He passed…..
As Bill Stern used to say on the lost art of Sunday radio….”The rest is History. Good night and good luck” But for Butler….a rookie 24 year old from Alabama, Malcolm Butler, intercepted the pass, falling on the one year line, the players on both teams,steaming out of their dream.
VIII
“The Pet Rocks never stumbling, their bonding …”your character is your fate”……the 24 year old rookie from Alabama ,leading the parade, his hands held high……
One two three fur five six seven eight nine teen eleven twelve fingers held high…..
“TO BE AND NOT TO BE, coach”
February 4, 2015 Boston, Massachusetts..the “Pet Roks” 4thSuper Bowl Parade.
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