The Greatest Thing Payton Manning Did in Superbowl 50
I’m sure you’re tired of hearing about the Superbowl by now. There’s always so much noise leading up to the big game. The talk seems to go on without end about the teams, the commercials, the location and (this year in particular) the history of the event. As if that weren’t enough it’s always followed up by an endless rehashing of the events of the game. I wasn’t going to write a Superbowl post this year. After all, who needs another voice adding to all that noise. But something happened at the very end of the game that I just couldn’t pass up on.
Right after the game was over a reporter asked Payton Manning about his plans for after this game. Specifically, she asked if he was going to retire. His response blew me away.
He said that he had some priorities before he made any decisions about the future of his football career. He was going to go kiss his wife and kids and say a prayer of thanksgiving. How awesome is that! I really like Manning’s response for a few reasons.
1. It was humble
Part of all the noise this year was whether Payton was going to retire after this game. He was asked at least twice after the game if this was the case and he never said. This shows a great deal of humility. He just won the Superbowl but he didn’t win it by himself, there was a whole team that won it together. To announce his retirement at that moment would steal the spotlight from the rest of the team. He didn’t allow rumors of his retirement spoil the moment for his teammates.
2. It was patient
One of the times someone asked about his retirement plans Manning mentioned some good advice he got from his old coach Tony Dungy, “Don’t make an emotional decision.” It’s great advice that all too often gets ignored in our world. People are far too quick to rush into decisions led by nothing but their emotions. Those types of decisions are usually the ones that we end up regretting. Manning wasn’t going to allow himself to be pressured into making an announcement in the heat of the moment just because it would make for great TV. Instead, he chose to wait before committing to any course of action.
[Tweet “The greatest thing Manning did in #SB50 happened off the field.”]
3. It reflected his priorities
This is perhaps my favorite part of his response. He could’ve easily launched into talking at length about himself. He could’ve talked about nothing but football. But instead he chose to talk about things that are more important than football. He talked about family and he talked about faith. It’s easy when you are good at something, and more so when you see great success at it, to allow that thing to crowd out everything else in your life. Manning recognized, even in a moment of celebrating one of the greatest achievements a football player can hope for, that there are things that are more important than a game that he loves and is clearly good at. Would that all of us had such clarity about our priorities.
In moments of success and in moments of failure it is humility, patience, and priorities that enable us to continue pursuing what matters most. When I started writing this post I hadn’t seen any footage of Cam Newton after the game, but I had hoped that he was able to handle his defeat with the same grace and humility as Manning. It doesn’t seem like that was the case, but there’s another perspective on that as well.
[Tweet “It is humility, patience, and priorities that enable us to continue pursuing what matters most.”]
How you win or lose matters much more than whether you win or lose. Everyone would rather win, of course, but if you cannot win gracefully then what have you really gained? It is far too easy to be successful, to “win”, in one area of life while the rest falls apart. It is far too common to lose without any dignity.
Think of a time when you either “won” or “lost” in any significant fashion. How did you handle yourself in that moment? Is there anything you would change? Let me know in the comments below.
