Another Lesson Lost: The Superbowl

When I was in highschool, my junior year, we had a great basketball team. All the right players came together at the right time in the right position, and the team was so good, it got nationally ranked. During the season, they were unbeatable. When they went to the state championships, they seemed unbeatable. Then came the championship game. For the first half of it, they were ahead for almost twenty points the entire time. It was in the bag. They had won. It was over. Except it wasn't.

The second half saw my school's team complacent. Their lead slipped to ten, five... tie game. For some reason, they still didn't wake up. They fell behind by five to ten points, and never caught back up. This perfected, super team lost the championship game because they became so assured of their victory they felt entitled to it. The only way they could lose was thinking that they couldn't lose. So they lost.

The same thing happened the first time Mike Tyson lost a pro fight. It was to an almost unknown fighter called Buster Douglas, who lost the title the next time he fought. He was so unqualified to have the heavyweight title that he couldn't even hold on to it for one fight. Yet he beat Iron Mike? Tyson was the superior fighter in all ways except one: he was unprepared. Like my highschool's basketball team, he was so sure that he was unbeatable, he didn't bother putting in a good training period before the fight. He supposedly sat on the couch watching Bruce Lee movies. If one watches the fight, you would swear he was a different man with the same face. The only way he could lose was by thinking he couldn't lose. So he lost.

As Hegel said, we learn from history that we never learn from history. Last night, the New England Patriots were on their way to a perfect season. Only the New York Giants stood in their way, and they didn't have a chance! New England's team was perfect. Great offense, great defense, great synergy from Tom Brady on down, no losses in the regular season, and here they are in the Superbowl. I didn't care enough to watch, but towards the end of the game, I was on the TV and figured I'd tune in for a minute to see how much they were winning by. Surprise! They were down! I was amazed, and a little mad that I didn't put money on the Giants when I had the chance. They scored a touchdown and gained the lead for a moment, but the Giants scored a touchdown right back at them. Sure enough, another team had grown overconfident of victory, and consequently had lost it. To repeat myself one more time, the only way the Patriots could lose that game was by thinking they couldn't. So they lost.

Hopefully my audience can see where I'm going with this. America is acting just like the Patriots. Just like Tyson. Just like my highschool basketball team. This happens all the time. In the most famous Roman Civil War, Caesar fought Pompey at Farsala, outnumbered an estimated seven to one. Pompey had preferred to wait it out, surrounding Caesar's camp, and starve Caesar into surrender. But the Senators with Pompey, so assured of victory, so sure that they couldn't possibly lose, pressured Pompey into engaging Caesar for a glorious, total victory. Well, Pompey lost. His army was decimated beyond repair. Centuries later, Napolean probably didn't think he could lose either. Then came Waterloo. Santa Anna lost to Sam Houston in war between Mexico and Texas, Hitler's elite forces in Russia were eventually killed off. Every example's hubris brought defeat.

Back to America, we have been on top of the world for so long, we the people have taken our position for granted. Even before America emerged as the leading power in the world, it was our cultural cousin, England. It is as if we are entitled to be on top. Even the liberals, who despise our country's position and consider us the world's greatest evil, expect to have their imported Columbian coffee made nonfat, soy, three quarters- calf, and with the right amount of cream at their favorite hangout, Starshmucks. One might even say that America's place as a superpower, or at least a great power, is guaranteed. In fact, one might even say that the only way we could lose our place in the world is by thinking we couldn't.

Yet here we sit, with hoards of millions of Muslims embracing extremism across the world, with decadent America as their focal point of hatred. (And Israel). Some argue that if we stopped supporting Israel, they'd stop hating us, but that is a dream come untrue. Extremist, ignorant hatred is extremist, ignorant hatred. You can't logically reason with these people. They hate us, they want to blow us up, and that's that. But hey, we're America. Forget 9/11, that was just a fluke. It couldn't happen to us again.

In the shadows we have new world powers emerging, eyeing our spot. China certainly comes to mind. Russia seems to be dissatisfied with it's loss of superpower status. We American Patriots supposedly reign supreme, but these New Giants are sizing us up, and cozying up with our enemies. If you're a lib saying that the world hates us just because of our actions, and people like Ahmedinijad, the entire Chinese government, and Vladimir Putin, think again. You really think the Chinese care about the poor human beings in Iraq after Tienamin Square? You really think that Putin, who has had ex-spies and news reporters killed (it's not official... yet) cares about our warring? You really thing Kim Jong Il cares about the humanitarian aid we do or don't give to Africans with AIDS? What they all smell on us is weakness. Weakness to not win a winnable war quickly. Weakness because of the hubris that leads us to think we are infallible. Weakness because we think we can't possibly be knocked off our pedistal.

Ask yourself this: when you look at the world scene, and America's way of thinking, is it possible that history will be repeated yet again? Perhaps in fifty years, I will come across this very post, and it will inspire me to rewrite it. Only this time, the final sentences will read that the only way Americans could have lost it's status of greatness was by thinking they couldn't. So they lost it.