What’s Your Super Bowl?

February 7, 2011

How you think it feels being Super Bowl XLV MVP Aaron Rodgers today?

Wouldn’t it be cool to feel like that? To be at the very top of your game? That sense of accomplishment from a season’s worth of struggle and sacrifice?

Beginning today, why not give yourself permission to kick off your own season with this chance - this golden opportunity - waiting at the end?

To Begin - Work Backward:

  1. Your team is hoisting you up as you’re named MVP. What are you MVP of? What’s your Super Bowl? It could be writing a book or potty training your kid or starting your own blog or quitting your day job. What’s your Super Bowl? Write it down.
  2. What do you have to do - specifically - to earn the MVP vote? What have you done to earn the right to hoist the trophy? Say it clearly. Say it plainly. Write it down.
  3. If it starts today, your personal Super Bowl Date is August 7th. Circle that date on your calendar.

Now: Get To Practicing

The difference between good and great is inches - not feet. You’re going to need to do the little things every day.

Every. Day. What are they?

  1. According to what I picked up from the game yesterday, you’ll need some small amount of daily SCHEDULED practice. You’ll need weekly benchmarks (games).
  2. One NFL Hall-of-Famer referred to his success yesterday as a result of a process his coach had given him. They (the team) had a process that became habit through repetition. Then, when things got serious, it helped they could rely on habits and muscle memory.
  3. That’s important, too: You need to surround yourself with winners. The negative people in your life? The naysayers? Cut ‘em if you want to win your Super Bowl.
  4. And a wise coach won’t hurt. Doesn’t have to be eighty years old, but it might be. Who can your trust to encourage you and hold you accountable? They can’t just do one or the other - they have to be able to do both.

Now: Let’s Get Back To The Good Stuff.

You’ve just been named the MVP.

Besides the fact that you’re at the top of your mountain, you get another major reward besides to no-one-can-ever-take-this-away-from-you feeling of accomplishment.

You Get To Go To DisneyLand!

But it doesn’t have to be DisneyLand.

What’s your reward? What are you doing? Where are you going? Who are you going with? Put up a picture of it somewhere, too.

Sports fans everywhere are excited that baseball pitchers and catchers are getting ready to report, but your spring training’s over.

Write down your gameplan. Then start. It’s time to get to work.

Hut. Hut. Hike.

Oh, and P.S. Chris Brogan wrote something inspiring about this awhile back. He says it’s simple, but …

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I’m attending a Super Bowl party this weekend with probably a dozen adults and approximately 471 small children. Of the dozen adults, maybe a handful of us would call ourselves sports fans. This is fine. This is common for the Super Bowl, I’m sure.

But, in an effort to spice things up and remember the real reason for the Super Bowl - Gambling - I’ve tried to come up with a quick and easy twenty question game for sports fans and the casual watchers alike that all the adults can fill out during pre-game.

Here are my 20 Questions plus an irrelevant bonus question that’ll serve as a tiebreaker.

The Super Bowl XLV Party Pool

Please answer these 20 questions before we rise for the singing of our National Anthem:

  1. National Anthem - Over or Under 1:46 in length (actual prop bet in Vegas)?
  2. How long does Christina hold ‘brave’? Over or under six seconds (actual prop bet in Vegas)?
  3. Coin Flip - Heads or Tails? Who wins?
  4. Number of People at Party Who - Before Halftime - Say They’re More Excited about Commercials?
  5. Number of Women (and Gay Men) at Party Who - Before Halftime - Say They’re More Excited about Glee?
  6. First Team to Score - Packers or Steelers?
  7. First Score is - Touchdown or Field Goal or Other?
  8. First In-Game Commercial Is For?
  9. How Many Commercials Will Feature a Monkey/Monkeys? (Thanks, Scotty!)
  10. How Many Commercials Will Feature a Baby/Babies?
  11. First Person to Spill Food or Drink at Party?
  12. First Person’s Child to Melt Down or Get Hurt or Break Something?
  13. First Person Who You Think, “Whoa, he/she has had too much to drink …”
  14. Number of People Who Leave Before Half-Time?
  15. Half-Time: Will Fox’s Terry Bradshaw appear confused - yes or no?
  16. Half-Time: Will Fergie wiggle, thrust or otherwise move body in suggestive manner that my 6-year-old son asks me about on way home?
  17. First Person to Fall Asleep/Pass Out in Front of TV?
  18. What color is gatorade winning team dumps on their coach (actual Vegas prop bet)?
  19. How Many People Left at Party at End of Game?
  20. Does Super Bowl MVP hoist his son/daughter on shoulders in hopes of getting next week’s Sports Illustrated cover and possibly Wheaties Box?

Bonus Question: Who actually won the, ya know, game?

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