Superbowl Promises

For the Super Bowl that year we were on opposite ends.

He was rooting for the 49ers and I was rooting for the Ravens.   Who knows why he was rooting for the Niners he’s not even from San Fran.   He says “Because they are an amazing team.”   I guess that is why a lot of people root for them but I still think it is debatable.   I think he has a thing for that Colin Kaepernick guy, who wouldn’t?    I’m not from Baltimore either, but c’mon, this was going to be the last game for Ray Lewis.   And what a game it was!

We had a little friendly side bet riding on the outcome of the game.   If San Fran won I would go to his hometown and visit him.   And if Baltimore won he would come to my home town and visit me.   The game was amazing and the Ravens beat the Niners 34-31.   I was so excited for so many reasons.   My team had won.   And so had my heart.

Jack never did come to see me.   Maybe he was a sore loser?  Looking back on things I know without a doubt this was the beginning of the end.   I mean the real end.   We both knew we would most likely never touch each other again, but I always thought we would have that connection, you know?   How do you lose a connection or a bond that strong?  Unless you try to lose it.   Unless you want to lose it.

I mentioned his unpaid bet to him a year later when we were chatting about the Seattle-Denver Super Bowl.  (if that’s what you want to call it)  He said he would make good on the bet .. all I had to do was tell him what to do.   I knew his head was no longer into it and I felt his heart wasn’t either.   I wanted him to come see me because he wanted me, not because he wanted to prove he was a man of his word.   With him … I just wanted to be wanted.   I wanted him to want me the way that I wanted him.    I didn’t want to just play the game.   I wanted to score a touchdown.