How much of life is luck?

We hit our local Alcoholics R Us before hitting the gym today. I knew I had to do bench and overhead press. Yesterday, I did squats.

Recently, I’ve been doing tons of reps but with lower weights. Changing it up a bit.

That was my plan for today as well.

Anyways, at the liquor store, I asked the owner (yes, we’re on a first name basis) who he thought would win next Sunday.

He said Tom Brady would win, because luck is on his side.

I smiled and we had a little conversation about Tom Brady. And yes, Brady definitely has luck on his side. He’s got a beautiful wife, a beautiful mistress (until the press found out and he had to dump her), the best defensive mind as his coach for every year of his career except for this one, and aggressive general managers.

Speaking of luck, let’s talk about someone who’s unlucky – Aaron Rodgers.

I’m not going to tell you who I think is a better quarterback. I will tell you though that these are the two best quarterbacks I’ve ever watched. Both of them are head and shoulders over their contemporaries Peyton Manning and Drew Brees. If you disagree, you’re simply wrong.

Now about Rodgers. Rumors have it that he’s estranged from his family. He’s got bad luck with the babes. And if he had half the luck of Brady, he’d have at least 3 or 4 rings instead of his measly one.

Speaking of which, let’s talk about that Super Bowl. He played a nearly perfect performance and they still barely won.

If I remember correctly, the Packers receivers dropped a slew of his passes including a touchdown. To add insult to injury, his team was up in what should have been a blowout, then one of the best all-around defensive players of my lifetime* breaks his collarbone before halftime and the Steelers roar right back.

Lady Luck favors some over others

You’ll see it with gamblers. Some get lucky their whole lives. And some shouldn’t gamble at all.

You’ll see the same thing with investors. A guy reads all the signs correctly and still can’t make a penny whereas his buddy is a complete idiot and makes a million investing because he fell into something that took off.

Let’s go back to Aaron Rodgers and Tom Brady though.

Brady had a Hall of Fame kicker who never ever missed when it was important. He always had the offensive line. And like I’ve already mentioned – the great defensive mind of Bill Belichick.

Belichick’s mistake? Thinking Brady was done and actually replacing him for a quarterback who really is done. Heck, I could have told you that and I paint beautiful naked ladies for a living.

I don’t like physical specimens. Because when the shit hits the fan, they instinctively end up using their bodies instead of their brains. Cam Newton had a nervous breakdown in his Super Bowl loss because the opposing defense kept confusing him to the point he had no idea what to do. Millions of people saw him looking at the fumbled ball on the ground and doing absolutely nothing, because his brain simply shut off.

Kaepernick was like that. Now to be clear, if you’re one of those idiot conspiracy theorists who think Kaepernick is out of the NFL for his politics, get lost. He became political when he knew his career was in a tailspin.

When opposing defensive coordinators figured him out, he became a shitty quarterback. They forced him to actually throw the ball, which he’s mediocre at.

At least Michael Vick learned to throw the ball when his body started declining. Kaepernick never did.

Going back to Rodgers

Which leads me back to Rodgers. Everything went wrong for that guy in his career. He had a conservative General Manager who spent more time saving money for the team rather than building elite teams. He had a coach who I swear must be partially retarded.

If I were running the team, I would have fired Coach McCarthy immediately after that Seattle playoff loss in 2014. But no, they had to let Rodgers suffer for another 4 years.

(You should hear what Dallas Cowboys fans are complaining to me).

Then this year, they were a Cornerback away from winning the Super Bowl. So what did they do? Traded up in the first round to draft Rodgers’ replacement. Real smart, General Manager guy.

Which ties us back to Tom Brady

So, after both of their long ass careers, the two greatest quarterbacks I’ve ever watched finally meet in the playoffs. In the NFC Championship Game, no less.

And what happens? Everything goes wrong for Rodgers. Everything goes right for Brady.

Rodgers unarguably has the better day and still comes back with the loss.

Besides Jaire Alexander, the Packer Cornerbacks are awful. Right before halftime, Brady’s about to get sacked, throws the ball away to avoid the sack, and the stupid Cornerback drops the interception.

Right in his hands too. Heck, I’m an old man and I would have caught that. Nobody even hit him. He just flat out dropped the ball.

Well, two plays later, the Packers’ Defensive Coordinator has his retard moment and forgets to keep his Safeties deep. Brady throws a long pass and it’s caught for a touchdown with one second left in the half by some guy named Scooter. No, I never heard of the guy either.

Brady finishes the game with three touchdowns, three interceptions, and the win. Rodgers finishes the game with three touchdowns, one interception, and the loss. Oh and the defense is in Rodgers’ face half the game. They sacked him five times.

“How do I get luck on my side?”

I love American football. Despite being an artist/composer, I’m still a fan.

I just happen to use these two as examples. You’ll see me use Brady as examples in a lot of my blog posts because he’s had such a fascinating life.

Brady is a winner. And winners often have luck on their side.

So, how do you get luck on your side?

Well, friend, I have no idea because in life, I’m more a Rodgers than a Brady. If I had the answer, I’d definitely let you know.

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• The three best all-around defensive players of my lifetime are (in no order) Lawrence Taylor, Reggie White, and Charles Woodson. Sure, Neon Deion is the best coverage Cornerback of my lifetime but he was a mediocre tackler. Woodson led his team in tackles from the Cornerback position. Yes, he’s that good. Lawrence Taylor destroyed opposing offenses and got his team two Super Bowl rings. Reggie White was an unstoppable monster. Had he not pulled his hamstring in that second Super Bowl, he would have destroyed the Broncos like he destroyed the Patriots.
• Mahomes is pretty amazing too but he’s only played four years. We’ll see if he continues to excel or if he flames out. I happen to like Russell Wilson better because Wilson’s taken shitty teams to the Playoffs. Mahomes has had Tyreek Hill and Travis Kelce for his entire career, two perennial Pro Bowlers (and often All-Pros as well). He’s also had Andy Reid as his coach who’s way better than Pete Carroll.

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