Super Stupidity

You know the look.  It’s the one that tries to tell the world all is fine inside. I can live with the outcome.  It’s one of those things.  It’s part of the game.  Easy come, easy go.  No regrets.

This look tries to say all that, but it cannot.

The straight-ahead stare that cannot stop the eyes from darting, the sternly jutting jaw that cannot help but quiver, the pathetic chest-out imitation of a young cadet – it is all a transparent cartoon.  In the emotional intelligence category on Jeopardy this visual clue would result in a correct answer of “What does ‘How could I be so stupid?’ look like.”

We are intimate with this look, having felt it draped on our own handsome self too often to be funny anymore.  It was the one worn by Pete Carroll, the Seattle Seahawks’ head coach, and Russell Wilson, the team’s quarterback, at the conclusion of Supe 49 last night. They weren’t fooling anybody.

But to get to the look, we are required to set the stage of a melodrama that a hundred million people watched in high definition.  A tumbling, juggling on-the-back catch by Seahawks receiver Jermaine Kerse on a heave from Wilson in the waning moments of the game.  Omigosh, the ghosts of David Tyree and Mario Manningham were hovering over the New England Patriots!

Second and goal at the two-yard line with under a minute to play and “the beast” Marshawn Lynch in the backfield.  All were wondering if Bill Belichik, the Pats’ head coach, would direct his squad to let the Seahawks score so that his stalwarts could get the ball back with enough time to come back.

With runaway train Lynch and read-option magician Wilson in the backfield, Wilson takes the snap, retreats a couple of steps and fires a pass, snatched by the Pats’ Malcolm Butler on the goal line.  What?!!  The look is as inevitable as the play call was inexplicable.  We know; we’ve been there.