Blog #5 (With Super Bowl Connection)

Sophie’s World Response:

            Well, something finally happened. It took a while, but finally we are beginning to understand what is really happening behind Sophie’s World. There has finally been something entertaining, with Hilde being real and reading a story about Alberto and Sophie. Hilde’s father is the puppeteer pulling the strings. This casts a little more light on the idea, however it seems like we will have to walk through a few mysterious hallways before we reach the climax of the novel. After all, what 500-page book would have its turning point at page 283? (See my use of romantic irony?)

            In particular, I have found the chapter on Kierkegaard to be intriguing. It first of all starts with the absurdity of having Alice in Wonderland show up (a result of Hilde’s dad influencing the story). I found the red and blue bottles to be very interesting. The red bottle Sophie drank from changed the world into a pantheistic one, where everything merged into one. The blue bottle changed the world into an individualistic world, where every part of it became it’s own world.

            I wonder if this part of the book gave some inspiration to The Matrix, like the scene with the red and blue pills (“You take the blue pill - the story ends, you wake up in your bed and believe whatever you want to believe. You take the red pill - you stay in Wonderland and I show you how deep the rabbit-hole goes.”) The red pill is like the red bottle and romanticism and idealism. It revealed an idealistic world where everything is connected, like The Matrix. The blue pill/bottle is the opposite of the red, like Kierkegaard’s individualistic response to romanticism, where truth is more important, just like the blue pill would reveal the truth in The Matrix.

            As the book continues, Sophie and Alberto might need to stay more on the blue side to try and break free from Hilde’s father.

Real World Response- Super Bowl Edition

            Two Sundays ago, I saw the epic Super Bowl 49. Before the game, I wanted the Patriots slightly more because I wanted to see Tom Brady win another Super Bowl and I thought Deflategate was nonsense, but the Seahawks were likeable too. Overall, it was a good match-up.

            It was an enjoyable game throughout; the Patriots took an early lead, and could’ve led by more, if not for a couple of bad Tom Brady interceptions. The Seahawks came roaring back to tie the game at halftime, and then took a ten-point lead (24-14), and had multiple chances to kill off the Patriots, but couldn’t do it. However, it set up the crazy 4^th quarter.

            Brady drives the Patriots down and scores a touchdown pass to make it a three-point game. The Patriots get the ball back and score another touchdown to take a 28-24 lead. What happens next, though, is for the history books.

            Seahawks quarterback Russell Wilson drives them down and completes an INSANE, just absolutely INSANE, pass to receiver Jermaine Kearse to the Patriots 5-yardline. Kearse dove, and the ball ricocheted off him at least three times before he hauls it in.

            At this point it seemed official, the Seahawks had all the luck and they were going to win. They were bound to after a play like that. The next play, the dangerous running back Marshawn Lynch runs another four yards. The Seahawks are one yard away from winning the Super Bowl.

At this point there are 55ish seconds left. The Patriots have two timeouts left. The cameras show Patriots coach Bill Belichick, expecting him to call a timeout. A few seconds pass.

(Wait, what is this guy doing!?! Call timeout! CALL TIMEOUT!!!)

Inexplicably, Belichick does not use his timeouts, and the clock keeps ticking and ticking, seemingly allowing less and less time for a Patriots comeback for when Seattle scores. With 26 seconds left, Wilson gets the ball and looks to throw, (What?) throws, and (OH MY GOODNESS!!!) the pass gets intercepted by Patriots safety Malcolm Butler! The Patriots win the Super Bowl!

Now here is where the philosophy comes in. When Marshawn Lynch ran the ball to the 1 with 55 seconds left, coach Belichick had two options. He could,

a) Call timeout, allow time for the Seahawks to pick their best play, and most likely score. By doing this, he would save time for Brady, but he would have to drive a long distance against the NFL’s best defense in under a minute.

b) Not call timeout, and hope that the Patriots defense stops them.

Remember the red bottle and the blue bottle from earlier? Option A would be like Kierkegaard’s philosophy, the blue bottle. It is truthful, and logical. It is realistic, and is what 99.9% of people would choose. Like The Matrix, they want to wake up into reality, with 50 seconds left, down by 3, with Tom Brady needing to engineer an unlikely drive to win.

Or like Saito said in Inception, you can take a leap of faith. Belichick chose Option B, the red bottle. Like in The Matrix, he plunged deeper into the rabbit hole, and hoped to come out on the other side. They were going to live or die on this play. It was Idealistic. It was Romantic. And it worked.

The Seahawks expected the Patriots to call a timeout. They didn’t. If you watch the play again, the Seahawks were confused. They didn’t know where to line up. The Patriots, on the other hand, had gambled, and were set up to defend this one play. Russell Wilson got the ball, and even when he threw it, the receiver looked to be open. I don’t blame Russell Wilson for throwing that pass. However, Malcolm Butler was prepared and made a fabulous play to win the Super Bowl for the Patriots. Who knows, maybe Bill Belichick took some extra philosophy courses and had the influence his decision.