Giant Chase Blackburn is “All In”

It was incredible to witness the Giants win Super Bowl XLVI.  As any long time Giants’ fan knows, the Path is never clear until the end.  Even then there is still some disbelief. Did we really just win the Super Bowl, again?  In the middle of the season, it  looked like another disappointing year.  But the players kept on pushing and came together as a team when it mattered most.  Much analysis is being done on the road to victory.  One lesson to apply is that the Giant players, coaches, owners (and even some fans) never stopped believing.

I want to highlight one individual as a symbol of the Giants’ perseverance and faith, Chase Blackburn.

After six years with the Giants, Blackburn did not make the team at the beginning of this season.  But Blackburn kept a few important things over the next couple of months: He kept in shape, he kept a bag packed with essentials to be ready for a possible call from the team and Chase kept hope.

When the phone didn’t ring for several months after the season began, as a father of two, he lined up a job as a substitute teacher.  Then right after Thanksgiving, Chase got the call to rejoin the Giants after several other linebackers were injured. Only two months later, on Sunday February 5, Blackburn started at linebacker in the Super Bowl.  And, I would argue that he made the key play up to that point – on the second play of the fourth quarter when he intercepted a 50 yard bomb from Brady intended for the much heralded Gronkowski.

I met Chase a hour after the game at the Giants’ team celebration, which took place back at their hotel.  I congratulated him for his remarkable transformation this year – from uncertainty to hero.  What was most suprising was Chase’s humble response and gratitude.  He knew how far he had come. I could feel how he appreciated the situation fully.   He was truly “all in!”