Last week I read an insightful article leading up to the Super Bowl about Joe Montana by Wright Thompson. Montana was the greatest quarterback of his day – the GOAT before Tom Brady came along. The article is a study on legacy, significance, and bitterness. After last Sunday, I wonder what the retirement of Chiefs' Patrick Mahomes or the Eagles' Jalen Hurts will be like. Will they be bitter and competitive as the next young quarterbacks come up after them? The competition is relentless to be the man, to be king. Wright comments, "Brady liked to text Joe from time to time and talk about breaking his record (four Super Bowl victories).” The loss of significance and lack of attention is devastating when you are no longer king. Thompson comments:
“Joe liked being king”, is how his fiercest rival, Steve Young, put it to me. "You want to talk about a weird environment," he says. "Go hang out with 10 Hall of Fame quarterbacks. Preening stars and maladjusted grinders, insecure narcissists and little boys still trying to earn their father's love, just a whole mess of somewhat unhinged alpha males with long records of accomplishment.”
No longer being ‘a king’ can lead to ‘bitterness’ states Thompson: “Bitterness is such a common affliction of once-great athletes that it's only noteworthy when absent. Joe DiMaggio realized every dream his dad dreamed but emerged from the struggle of a bitter man prone to black moods. Ted Williams burned every family photo. The story goes that Mickey Mantle used to sit in his car during rainstorms, drunk and crying because the water hitting the roof sounded like cheers. No victory, no successful career fills the void – and if it seemingly has, there will be a rude awakening.”
Thompson continues, “Montana says he wishes every living human could have the experience of standing on an NFL football field on a Sunday afternoon. Just to experience the way crowd noise can be felt in your body, the sound itself a physical thing, waves and vibrations rolling down the bleachers -- 80,000 voices united coursing right through you. Even talking about it gives Montana chills.”
Ecclesiastes states that life is fleeting, and, in the end, you will not be remembered in light of eternity. No success, no money, no experience can fill our heart that has been shaped for eternity (Ecclesiastes 3:11). Only God can fill it.
Thompson believes that for Montana it is the moments that he thinks about when he sits at home. When he watches Brady play in a Super Bowl, he's not jealous of the result or even the ring. He's jealous of the experience. Ronnie Lott (former Montana teammate) says, "To sit in rare air is like being on a spaceship." We can live for the moments in our smaller arena with family and friends that we feel give our life meaning. We need not make them more than they are. There is an eternity waiting for us where we worship the only true King.
But, as it is written, “What no eye has seen, nor ear heard, nor the heart of man imagined, what God has prepared for those who love him”—these things God has revealed to us through the Spirit. For the Spirit searches everything, even the depths of God. (1 Corinthians 2:9-10)
