Seahawks Quarterback Russell Wilson

Why not you?

Russell Wilson, flush with success after leading his team to their first Super Bowl victory in the team's history, quoted this short sentence. Three words, nine letters. So simple. He quoted his late father, who used this simple phrase to train Russell as he grew up. During the interview Wilson said something like this:

"My dad always asked me, 'Why not you?' I grew up hearing that all the time. When this season started, I took it to the team, saying, 'Why not us?'" 

Why not indeed. Wilson heard, his entire career, that he was too short to be an effective quarterback. Apparently the phrase, 'Why not you?' stuck in his mind more than his height. His dad must have really drove it home. Quarterback Russell Wilson took it to his team, a team with no superstars, no heroes, just a group of men that learned to work together and play great football, led by a quarterback that was still too short. 

I sat, mesmerized, listening to the interview after the game. Russell's dad passed a few years back, and would have been a proud papa to see what his investment in his son yielded. What an honorable man, to quote his father's teaching at such a momentous occasion. What a heritage, what a blessing to pass something so powerful on to his son. Congratulations to the Seahawks and Russell on a great Super Bowl victory.