Readers,
In a week, Sam Darnold’s Seattle Seahawks and Drake Maye’s New England Patriots will play in the National Football League’s sixtieth Super Bowl. If you think this is going to be just a regular football game, think again. This year’s championship matchup will inaugurate a new era of the NFL. Tom Brady? Gone. Russell Wilson? Benched (i.e. gone). Big Ben, Drew Brees, Peyton Manning––don’t even get us started. Most of the quarterbacks who ruled the 2010s have been replaced by a new generation of players. In fact, this is the first year since 1998 you haven’t seen Peyton Manning, Tom Brady, or Patrick Mahomes in the playoffs. For old times’ sake, let’s go back in time.
Twelve years ago, Russell Wilson’s Seahawks played Peyton Manning’s Denver Broncos in the Super Bowl. This was a storybook matchup––the best defense in the history of football against the best offense in the history of football, respectively. Seattle won, 43-8. A year later, on February 1st, the Seahawks faced off against Tom Brady’s primetime Patriots in the Super Bowl. For those who remember this game, you know exactly what’s coming.
The Seahawks could’ve won it. They should’ve won it. Twenty-six seconds left. Ball on the one-yard line. The NFL’s best running back in the league (Marshawn Lynch) in the backfield. And what happened? The Seahawks called a pick play. Russell Wilson threw the ball just a little ahead of his receiver, and boom. Intercepted by Malcom Butler. Brady got his fifth Lombardi trophy.
You can’t change the past, but you sure as hell can right the ship. When the Seahawks win this weekend (and they will, 28-14), the victory will taste sweeter because of how close they were eleven years ago, and how spectacularly they failed. Sam Darnold will hoist the trophy above his head while green and navy blue confetti falls down on him, and he will think of the 2015 Seahawks.
That’s why this week, the Herald is especially motivated by honoring our predecessors. They had a vision of an eclectic magazine, so we offer a wide-range of topics: a Letter from the Editors about the Superbowl, a reflection on campus nature, a take on artistic overcommitment, and reviews Heated Rivalry and Naked As We Came. We’ve also got pieces on ICE and sortition, the finance recruiting season, Molly Zuckerman-Hartung, and artificial intelligence, plus some poetry and flash-fiction.
There’s something for everyone. Don’t believe us? Read on.
Most Daringly,
Oscar and Will
