The Road to Glory

Super Bowl week is here, an entire NFL Season has passed. For 30 teams in the league it leaves them with what could have been, but for two there are still hopes of what could be. The culmination of hard work, of uniting as a team for one common goal with the understanding that for one day in their lives nothing else matters. To those teams, this is the ultimate prize. This road that they took is a hard road, a tough road with it’s fair share of doubters and it’s fair share of rough patches. To be sure this road isn’t easy. It all began a year ago, and it led them to this.

For the Colts, their beginning was another man’s ending. At the end of the 2008 season a football coaching legend stepped away from the Indianapolis Colts. Tony Dungy wanted to pursue other avenues in his life and he retired from the game of football. After his emotional farewell speech, the Colts had business to tend to and the first step down this road began. They decided to elevate Jim Caldwell, who served with the Colts in years prior. He started off as Quarterbacks Coach and soon was elevated to Assistant Head Coach.

Many people often wondered how the team would respond to not having Coach Dungy’s emotional leadership around, how would they handle it? They handled it just fine. Jim Caldwell was the first Rookie Head Coach to win his first 13 games as the Colts chased perfection. They decided that wasn’t the Ultimate Goal however, not the Road they started on and they had to maintain their course.

Along with Dungy the Colts also parted ways with longtime stand-out Wide Receiver, Marvin Harrison. For many years Harrison was the model of consistentcy. He was quiet and worked hard, he and QB Peyton Manning had a special connection when they played. One that took just a simple look from the QB and the talented Receiver knew where to go before the ball was snapped. That bond was now over and again people wondered, who would be the go to guy, would it be Reggie Wayne or Dallas Clark?

What if they were unable to carry the load alone? Who will step up and fill that void once Anthony Gonzalez was lost to injury. Enter relative unknowns, Pierre Carcon and Austin Collie. Combined they caught 107 balls for well over 1000 yards of Offense. They were on board with the mission from the beginning, they were ready to put everything aside and walk the hard journey down that road. People said they wouldn’t be able to replace Harrison and Gonzalez with two guys you never heard of especially since one’s a Rookie! But they quietly went about their business and pressed on down that road.

Down in Louisiana, the New Orleans Saints had some offseason decisions to make themselves. They were frankly, underachievers. They had the talented Offense led by Drew Brees, they had the Wide Receivers led by Marques Colston, they had the talent at Running Back with Pierre Thomas and the 2nd Overall Pick Collegiate wonder Reggie Bush. Yet they were not getting to the Post Season, they were not achieving the goals they set out for. In 2008 they added a couple of former Miami Hurricanes in Jonothan Vilma and Jeremy Shockey but that didn’t put them over the hump.

The organization made up their minds, they decided to end all the swirling rumors and took Head Coach Sean Payton off the Hot Seat and stuck with their guy, a guy they knew they could win with. They resigned some key defensive players but the most significant move was to obtain a crafty Veteran in the Secondary. Someone who could help anchor the backfield, someone who has been to Super Bowls and has a knack for the ball and a flare for the dramatic. That someone was Darren Sharper. He instantly added a swagger to the defense, his Interceptions not only changed momentum but usually changed the score. He was exactly what this team needed. They set out on a course the same as every other team did, but they did the little things when they to and the big things when it was called for.

The City of New Orleans is a place of unity, after the 2005 devastation that Hurricane Katrina left, the City had to come together and work as one to rebuild what was taken away. The SuperDome that was once a shelter for people who lost everything in the storm, it was a place of tragedy, a place of loss, a place of despair. Now, that is all gone and the hopes and dreams of those people rest in the pride they have for their team who is one game away from winning a Championship and bringing glory back to a city that had once lost it. They started on this journey together and the Saints pride is in their people!

When you sit down with friends and family to watch the biggest sporting event in America, just remember that this game is a culmination. Sportscasters will throw around stats about this and that, about match-ups and how players stack up against each other. But it’s more than that. It’s an example to us of how hard work and dedication is needed to reach our goals. It’s a culmination of months and months of planning, of hard work and labor. From the administration officials down to the equipment manager and everyone in between. They have been working for one common goal and nothing was going to distract, deter or change that course. To be sure, it wasn’t easy but nothing of value in this world ever is. As Robert Frost once wrote, “Two Roads diverged in a wood and I — I took the Road less traveled by, and that has made all the difference.”