Super Bowl 50 awaits. It looms in the near distance. It grows nearer by the day.
Beneath its copious bunting of orange and blue, its flags, stocking caps, jerseys, socks, plastic horse heads and assorted ephemera, Denver awaits its entry into America’s great 21st century Coliseum.
The Super Bowl.
Which awaits.
And gladdens, inspires, excites, motivates and intimidates.
Intimidates?
Oh yes, in spite of all the bravado, the chauvinistic jingoism, the bold confidence, the trash talk, the lusty ra-rahs of countless Bronco devotees — fear lurks.
There is fear, and there are memories of catastrophic Super Bowls gone by — of Dallas, of New York, of Washington, of San Francisco. There are memories — still raw and painful, from two years ago — of Seattle.
And now, Carolina.
The mighty Panthers. They who are favored. A team of 17, mostly lopsided, victories. A team whose quarterback dances in victory and likes to portray himself as Superman. Super self-confident. A team that shatters other teams’ dreams with ease.
Should the Denver Broncos fear such a team?
Allow us to answer that question Jewishly, with more questions:
Did David fear Goliath?
Did he fear the Valley of Death that he wrote about in Psalm 23?
Did Edmund Hillary fear Mount Everest?
Did Neil Armstrong fear the Moon landing?
Did the Scarecrow and his companions fear the Wicked Witch?
Of course they did.
Yet all of them went forward boldly, not heedless of their fear, but rather heedful of it, even strengthened by it. They faced their challenges. They prevailed.
They won at the end.
Just ask Goliath.
Copyright © 2016 by the Intermountain Jewish News
