The inspirationally unpetty Sam Darnold

“I don’t think about it all that much,” replied Sam Darnold to a sideline reporter, moments after leading his Seahawks to an AFC Championship and Super Bowl berth.  The question, worded only slightly differently than the same one he has been asked for years, referred to his journey.

Minutes later, on the podium in front of tens (or 12s) of thousands of adoring Seattle fans, Darnold was asked the same question yet again.  “That doesn’t matter to me,” was his answer.

Both reporters eventually went on to ask about the game Darnold had just won after throwing for three touchdowns and 346 yards.  Consider the critics silenced, and hopefully an eventual end to that line of questioning.

Considering the trajectory of his career, those questions beg asking of a man who has been passed over by four NFL franchises in seven years.  Seattle, his fifth team in eight campaigns, is happy to have him.  Short of Kurt Warner stocking grocery shelves and becoming Super Bowl MVP, Darnold’s is a quarterback’s most improbable path to the promised land.

Despite the outpouring of doubters that must wear on a man’s soul, Darnold continues to take the high road.  It’s as respectable a feat as reaching the Super Bowl. 

After three years with the Jets, Darnold was considered a bust despite only three men in the entire history of that franchise posting a winning record with more than 50 starts.  It’s not exactly the easiest place to win.  But let’s get back to Darnold, a man whose lack of pettiness has become his superpower, a superpower that led him to Super Bowl LX.

I was fired from a job once, which in retrospect, was a good thing, as it was for Darnold.  I was a hungry, forty-something year-old bartender looking to get back into the service industry and the people who let me go had neither a clue about service nor the industry.  With little to no support from ownership, I did everything in my power to get their project afloat.  I was relieved of my duties, over the phone, by one of their underlings.

After eventually finding a happy home and winning awards at my craft, I’d be lying if I said their decision to fire me didn’t jam a spur up my behind, warmth washing over me every time I think about it, and we’re just talking about neighborhood bartending gigs, not potentially Super Bowl-winning quarterbacks.

All this proves is that I’m far pettier of a man than Sam Darnold.

But still, I call bullshit.  There is no way in living hell that a professional athlete with the drive and character of Sam Darnold, who has trained his mind and body for years, and who must own a TV, didn’t use the walking papers he got from New York, Carolina, San Francisco and Minnesota as inspiration during every painstaking bench press, ice bath and ab crunch, those letters framed boldly inside the office of his mind.

These exceedingly indefensible dismissals of Darnold continued as recently as last season when the Minnesota Vikings had a decision to make… either sign Darnold, who had led them to a 14-3 record and played more than well enough to deserve a long term-deal or go with their recently drafted JJ McCarthy.  They went with McCarthy who played ten games and had more picks than touchdowns.  Perhaps it’s too early to count out McCarthy as so many of us did Darnold, but the point is they could have held on to both and Darnold packed his bags yet again.

Enter Seattle, for whom Darnold was a match made in Santa Clara, for that’s where he will be playing for a championship in two weeks, the knock on him gone forever, four team’s fan bases shaking their heads, Darnold laughing last, if only he’d ever listened to the noise.

The NFL is a game where quarterbacks have seconds to make a split decision but a lifetime to think about them.  Right now, Matt Stafford is wondering if he’ll ever get another chance.  The Jets are thinking about how much time they should give their next quarterback.  So is Minnesota who damned Darnold to maintain McCarthy.

Now Darnold and his young counterpart Drake Maye, only 23 years old, square off in a game that Lamar Jackson, Josh Allen, Justin Herbert, Dak Prescott, Jordan Love and all the other high-profile quarterbacks the media have made us believe are better quarterbacks, have yet to play in.  We’ll see if they ever get their chance.  The constant casting aside of Sam Darnold tells us it’s never too late to give up on a dream no matter how many times we’re asked the same stupid question.

The NFL is full of inspirational stories.  Sam Darnold’s, who is barely 28, is only one of them.

Please follow and like us: