Am I the only one with this strange feeling that today feels like a bowl game day for Iowa State? Like, I'm _that_ invested in this game.
I'm pulling for the 49ers to go all the way but I'm not quite as nervous as I would be for ISU. I'm more just wanting Purdy to do really well. Obviously want them to win too but my #1 is Purdy continues to play well
I am struck by the stranger-than-fiction story line. NFL coaches, analysts, oddsmakers, and everyday Joe Six Packs, are not merely taken in by the Purdy phenomenon, they are awe struck. In watching the Youtube clips on this thread, you will see them pause, sit back, and smile introspectively. And to avoid putting a jynx on a rising superstar, they take a breath, and share observations that, before Thanksgiving 2022, were simply inconceivable.
The most rational observation I have heard was that Brock, in his 4 years starting for ISU, experienced not only victory, but a good measure of what we used to call the agony of defeat (copyright ABC's
The Wide World of Sports of the 60s and 70s). Pros need to learn how to bounce back from a loss where you were expected to win. Players from the Ohio States of the world need years to learn that stuff in the pros. But for ISU products, it is simply baked in.
Regarding bowl-game-like anticipation, I view it more like a parent. He grew up here in fly over country, but now he is San Francisco's. He is the NFL's. And he is everyone's who ever labored in obscurity, and dared to dream of becoming relevant.