Well, Sunday is the big game. Even though my team isn’t in it for a change, I’m still somewhat excited. As my brother and I always say, bad football is still better than no football or any other sport. I actually think this will be a good game just between teams I don’t care about. It also will bring on what my wife calls “my sad time.” She tried to encourage me the other day as we were discussing this dark time of the year. She said but in a few weeks free agency starts. And then you have March Madness. You like the tournament. And then there is the draft. And she is right, I like all those things but after the draft until August it is rough. I might have to go for a walk or read a book or have a conversation with someone. Ugh. Nah, I’ll probably just watch old games to get ready for next year. Anyway, there is one more game left, so lets soak it in while we can! Let’s dive in.

The Farm Boy vs the Empire: Seahawks vs Patriots

My nerd abilities are not limited to just football. I also nerd out on things like Star Wars and super heroes and may or may not have a sizable vintage toy collection. So when thinking of a good comparison for this game, I thought the original trilogy was a fitting comparison for the big game. While other characters like Han Solo and Chewie and R2D2 may be more loved and even characters with limited screen time like Boba Fett, are more popular, Luke Skywalker is really the center of this story. Luke had a rough go of it. I mean the kid was abandoned at birth and his mother died. He lived with his grumpy Uncle and sweet Aunt who knows he has too much of his father in him to be a farmer, which is of course is what Uncle Owen is afraid of. He has to stay on the farm and work instead of going into town to get some power converters. Then he finds a hidden message on a new droid. Then the droid runs away and he gets beat up by a sand person. Luckily an old wizard shows up to help him out. They go back home to find his Uncle and Aunt have been fried along with the Jawas who sold them the droids. They head into town to get transport to Alderan to save some princess. On the way Alderan is blown up. Then his new teacher/wizard guy dies. He does blow up the death star which is nice but then he almost gets eaten by monster, nearly freezes to death, kisses his sister (whoops), goes to hang out with a muppet in a swamp, then goes to face the most baddest of bad guys…who spoiler alert, is his dad. He then returns to the swamp to complete his jedi training only to watch the muppet die. It’s a rough go. But then He beats up his dad, defies the evil emperor meanwhile his buddies take out the shield with the help of some teddy bears and Lando takes out the death star all the while, Luke saves his father. Well not from dying but you know from being evil and then his dad gets to be a force ghost. And then Disney takes over and makes the whole thing pointless because there are still storm troopers and evil bad guys and somehow the emperor has returned. Sam Darnold…this is your Luke Skywalker moment. Sam has had a rough go of it. He was drafted high but did terrible for a terrible team. He bounced around the league to several teams and then when he finally had success the team he succeeded with was like, nah we’re good. But now he is with Seattle. He led his team to the 1 seed. Sure there are better players on the team than Sam. But he has done great. He’s been at his best when it mattered most the last few weeks. And here he is, reading to redeem his career just like Luke redeemed Vader. But what’s that in the way? It’s Disney’s version of the Evil Empire, known as the Patriots. They wrecked havoc and dismay on the NFL for two decades. Their hooded leader would do anything to win including using the tool of evil spygate to get intel on his enemies. His young prodigy would create controversy over tuck rules and deflating balls and would later throw a beautiful woman aside to pursue more important things like finishing 8-9 and getting blown out in the first round of the playoffs. We thought this evilness had finally been defeated by retirement. But just a few years later the Disney Patriots are trying to arrive. Sure, they seem friendly enough with their leader giving hugs in the tunnel and their Quarterback seemingly like a really nice guy, who’s married to a really nice girl and seems like someone you would totally cheer for if he played for any other team. But this Disney version of the Patriots has the potential to be even worse. They are younger and cheaper and have the ability to last even longer just like the Disney version that simply won’t die. There is just one thing that can save us. Sam Skywalker Darnold stands in the way of the Empire taking over once again. Will he be the great hope we need? Or will their be darkness once again. We will find out on Sunday. My head says the Seahawks are the better team. My heart certainly wants Sam Darnold and the Seahawks to win. It’s the story we all deserve. But at the same time, this craptastic season in some ways deserves a crappy ending. And my gut says the Patriots are winning this game. And my gut is typically more accurate than my head and always more accurate than my heart.

Patriots 27 Seahawks 20