Last year's "Edelman53" became one of my most popular pieces on Instagram (it never hurts when the athlete shares your work in his 'story'!) and it jumped to mind when it was time to choose a subject for this year's Super Bowl weekend. I decided to depict the SB moment that is my most vivid memory from the big game-- Malcolm Butler's game-sealing pick in Super Bowl 49.
Butler made one of the most amazing individual plays I've ever seen, and seeing as it completely flipped the outcome of a Super Bowl in a split-second, one could argue that it's the most consequential play in the history of the sport. All I know for sure is I've never gone from distraught to jubilant so quickly in my whole life. As a Pats fan, the Kearse catch moments before had me thinking about David Tyree and Mario Manningham. Are they going to lose again because of a crazy catch? I say 'crazy' because those three catches-- Tyree, Manningham and now Kearse-- fall somewhere on the spectrum of Incredible to Downright Lucky. I'll use the word 'crazy' and let you decide what adjective you think fits Kearse, but I know which end of the spectrum I put it on.
I slumped over, the air had gotten out of the room. My wife knew I was upset that the Pats were about to lose, but was not versed enough in team lore to understand the context of how they were about to lose. "It's going to happen again," was all I could manage as an explanation. On first down Donta Hightower made one of the most incredible solo tackles to stave off the inevitable. On second down the Pats left their run stuffers on the field, threw Pete Carroll a curveball by not calling timeout, and the 'Hawks, having just one timeout remaining, decided to throw the ball and pick on an undrafted rookie corner that nobody had ever heard of. By the time the game was over, every football fan knew the name of Malcolm Butler.
I attacked this piece with markers to do the featured players (I love that Kearse is feature prominently) and then did the green and blue of the turf in watercolor. I love the way it turned out, and I hope you do too. Next Super Bowl Sunday? I'll have to figure out what my next favorite SB memory is and keep the tradition going.
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