See below for insights, lessons and messages about the Superbowl LX (2026) match up of New England Patriots vs. the Seattle Seahawks, prepared by Rabbi Mendel with help from Shabbos House student and alumni sports enthusiasts… in no particular order:
SEAHAWK’S 12’S NOISE
Apparently this is such a big deal that opposing teams prepare to play the Seahawks by pumping in very high decibel sounds. Supposedly the Seahawks have the loudest home stadium. Their boisterous fans, known as “The 12’s” (formerly “The Twelfth Man” – but that version is trademarked by Texas A&M) make tons of noisy ruckus which can be disruptive or disorienting to other teams. This is a remarkable team hallmark, as all this doesn’t happen on the field. It’s all in the stands, but the stands can make a difference.
Think of the synagogue or community. You can have the Chazzan (cantor) or rabbi leading a service, but the impact of the congregational response should not be underestimated. The resounding Amens are like the big noise 12’s make at a big game.
SAM DARNOLD’S FULFILLMENT OF PROMISE
So many students and alumni told me about this one! This has to be the top message we heard from people…
The year Sam Darnold was drafted was a big quarterback year. Josh Allen and Lamar Jackson were drafted in his same class, and he was the third overall draft pick. People saw a lot of potential in Sam Darnold. But he went nowhere with the Jets, didn’t much on the Panthers and pretty much same on the 49’ers. When traded to the Vikings his talent began to emerge and shine again, and then when traded to the Seahawks he led them to the Superbowl. After a long many years of slump. Despite that 3rd overall draft pick promise.
So much to take from this. First of all, don’t give up on yourself. After all these years and team switches, you’d think Sam Darnold would give up. Josh Rosen was another quarterback of his time, whose career just wouldn’t take off in the NFL despite early promise. Josh Rosen left football to go back to business school. But Sam Darnold just wouldn’t give up.
Rabbi Akiva is the most famous late bloomer in Jewish history. He was 40 years old when he started to learn the Hebrew alphabet. Yet he became one of the greatest teachers, one of the greatest rabbis of all time, he is considered the father of the Mishna. At a Sunday Talmud session this semester we will learn the Talmud Menachos story of how Moshe himself was jealous of Rabbi Akiva’s future attainments! And he only went to study at 40 because Rachel (his wife) believed in him.
Our generation is a testament to so many who have grown in their Judaism later in life. And their journeys and pathways are all part of their amazing stories!
It may also tell us something about the conditions and chemistry needed to help us thrive. Maybe the Jets and Panthers and 49’ers just weren’t the right fit. It took the Vikings and more so the Seahawks to allow Sam Darnold to blossom and flourish and be his best. Maybe it was that he needed the right mix of teammates, a good fit with the coaches. Or maybe Sam just needed that time and effort to grow. Sometimes this happens with our Jewish growth as well.
And keep working on yourself. Continuously. You can’t rest on laurels of being a third overall draft pick. Sam Darnold spoke of how much he works, in season and off-season, with the team and by himself, always pushing, working, striving higher.
LONGSHOTS, BOTH OF THEM
Once the playoffs were underway, it was easy to envision the Seahawks and Patriots in Superbowl LX. But in the pre-season betting odds, both these teams were a long shot! The odds were not in their favor. Nobody believed in them. Even at the start of the season the Patriots were not playing as a Superbowl team would play.
Don’t worry about expectations. The story doesn’t always end that way. Pay no heed to the naysayers. Even in this generation of big data you can ignore the data, too. Don’t let that define you or limit your horizons. I know students who never thought of themselves as coming to Minyan, or wearing daily Tefillin or going to class or study program, and others also didn’t think that way of them. But they didn’t let that stop them from trying.
Bottom line is about getting the job done, regardless of what people think or what the pundits say. Just do it! One play at a time, one game at a time.
And this has Mitzvah implications, too. Don’t overthink it. And don’t worry what others might say. Just get it done. One mitzvah at a time!
WILL CAMPBELL’S “FIGHT & DIE”
A student sent me some videos of this player speaking intensely and passionately of his craft and commitment. He’s got the rhetoric as if he’s a hardened marine going into an actual battle. This Patriot’s 2025 draft pick has a “bleed for my brothers” relentless ethic, an offensive lineman who is there give his all to protect his quarterback and to create lanes for his running backs.
Will Campbell sees this as a “fight and die” approach, to see each play, each down, as a form of “Mesirat Nefesh” – a give-all sacrifice, reflecting the theme at the end of Tanya 25 – how each and every mitzvah ought to performed with the give-all utter selfless dedication of Mesirat Nefesh.
Tanya 25 is an amazing chapter (that counter-balances the Pintele Yid chapter in Tanya 18) about seeing the ultimate in everyday, about making the smallest gesture romantic, seeing each mitzvah as an opportunity for the deepest and highest connection.
HAUNTED BY END OF SUPERBOWL XLIX (2015)
The Seahawks famously lost the 2015 Superbowl XLIX to the Patriots in a 1-yard line interception. So close, yet literally threw it all away. Was it or wasn’t it a bad call? It’s certainly going to be a memory on the minds of coaches and coordinators of this year’s game. Can’t take that 1-yard line for granted.
There are mistakes from our past that can haunt or inform our current decision making. See this post titled “Nochum and the Kotinke” as to which past mistakes we ought to work to improve and which past mistakes we have to let go.
It also reminds us that we get fresh new opportunities to remedy, to redefine and redeem ourselves, we are not stuck in the past. There’s Teshuvah (repentance/return)! And as the Rambam says, the best sign of Teshuvah, is when you are back in the same situation, same people, same challenge – and you don’t fall back into the same trap, but you overcome!
A TOTALLY RENEWED TEAM – AND A PERSONAL ADMISSION
The Patriots are a storied Superbowl franchise. Many of us grew up in the shadow of their many wins. But the coach for all those Superbowl wins Bill Belicheck is no longer with the Patriots, and neither is Tom Brady, the MVP QB, one of greatest of GOATs, is also no longer with the Patriots. And much of the team has changed out since.
But something must have stuck. There’s a team culture, a respected history, a name to live up to. Even if all the main parts are gone, you can’t discount the impact that lives on in a team like that.
Some of you know that I (Mendel) have a longstanding argument (in good jest) with a beloved alumni about his notion of our Jewish campus community consisting of “interchangeable parts” (Eli Whitney’s invention that furthered the Industrial Revolution). He says people come and people go, and it’s plug and play, and the program keeps running regardless of who came and who went. My argument is that while the nature of a campus community keeps changing and the people change up every four years (and to some extent every year), each person has a unique individual contribution, leaves their own mark, and collectively that makes the chemistry and makeup different all the time. Each person matters, each one is different, each person is unique, it is not interchangeable parts! We argue about this all the time…
But hey, while keeping to my side of the argument here, this year’s Superbowl, both teams actually, are totally different Patriots and Seahawks teams than when they reached or won their last Superbowl… tells us that some aspect of culture and team-vibe and secret-sauce does continue on even with totally different individual players. So I reached out to this dear alumnus to acknowledge this fact… he has a point – to a degree.
COOPER KUPP’S YICHUS
Cooper Kupp is an acclaimed wide-receiver for the Seattle Seahawks who had a banner year. He holds a number of NFL records. And Yichus? That’s a Hebrew/Yiddish word that refers to one’s lineage or pedigree, the riches of one’s personal Jewish ancestry. Cooper Kupp has a unique family lineage: Both his father and grandfather were NFL players! He is a 3rd generation NFL draft pick and very few other players can say the same.
Generally, we find the pride and obsession with Yichus family lineage/pedigree to be a shallower definition. (It’s important in terms of Jewish identity, but not in terms of your place in Jewish society). As someone famously said (something to this effect): It doesn’t matter as much how many rabbis you had as ancestors, it matters much more what you do with your Judaism today, and more so, whether you will have Jewish grandchildren…
A great portion of today’s involved Jewry may not have grown up as Jewishly involved, maybe their parents were not as active. Some may be the first active Jewish person in their family for a number of generations, some may be converts. Then you have many who come from richly involved Jewish families, but they themselves are not (as) into it (or not yet). So it’s not about Yichus.
So while Yichus isn’t really as important overall, Cooper Kupp does remind us of the rich and lasting impact of family. Your passions and interest and hobbies and priorities – they can filter through. You’d be surprised what kids pick up and what sticks with them. As the Billboards declare: “Pass It On!”
THE COACHES – SO SOON ON THE JOB…
An alumnus told me this year’s Superbowl is all about the coaches. True, they aren’t players themselves, but they make important decisions. They guide and coordinate and bring out the best in their players and create a culture for the overall team. Think of the value in how we can be positive and supportive coaches for others!
This alum pointed out that Mike Vrabel is a first-year head coach for the Patriots, and Mike MacDonald (currently the youngest head-coach in the NFL) is only a 2nd year head coach for the Seahawks. It’s remarkable how much they each accomplished in so short a time, such transformative turnarounds for their teams!
Most meaningful things take time, but there’s also a lot we can do in a short time! And it can be more transformative than we realize!
DEFENSIVE VERSATILITY
It seems that a key to Mike MacDonald’s defense strategy is to change things up – even players strengths and positions. His players and his scheme is versatile, and adjusts responsively according to the players and conditions of that play. This allows for agility in the play, and also messes with the minds of the opposing team.
Even players who excel at certain specific positions are sometimes told to assume other positions or play other roles instead. They have to train for and be ready for more than their own roles.
Generally you’d think such flexible versatility more so in offense, but Mike MacDonald (who grew through the coaching ranks as a defensive coordinator) sees versatility as optimum ideal for defense, too.
This can have profound implications for the defensive and protective positions of Jewish life. You can’t stick to one defensive position. We need to adapt, step into more roles, to do whatever it takes to defend. This also has implications when it comes to “fighting antisemitism”.
DRAKE MAYE – SECOND YEAR QB IN THE BIG GAME
Speaking of youth, and accomplishing a lot in a short time: Patriot QB Drake Maye is only in his second year in the NFL and already at the Superbowl!
Drake and Sam can represent two types of life journeys. Drake struck gold right away. It’s his second season and he’s already headed to the Superbowl. Sam had to do lots of digging and trying and restarting and keeping at it. He had years of slump before he got here.
Tanya speaks of the Beonini who struggles and the Tzadik who achieves. (So much on this topic!). Tanya speaks of some Beinonim who can, through tremendous personal effort and continued striving, upgrade to the Tzadik mode. Sam Darnold seems to reflect that.
THE BILLS
We can’t talk football at Jewish UAlbany in 2026 without mentioning the Bills. Some in our community are true Bills-Mafia, and they were devastated by the 3-point loss that eliminated them in the playoffs. They may not be playing in Superbowl LX, but Bill-Mafia-level commitment (yes, we’ve had students who were die-hard Giants and Jets fans this way, too) can be a lesson for all of us.
Like the Bills, we’re not all winning all the time, life is full of setbacks and missed opportunities and mishaps, and mistakes we make, and situations beyond our control. There are referee calls we don’t like but can’t do much about. But the stick-with-it-ness, that’s something. The resilience to bounce back and get back in it, that’s one of the most needed qualities in today’s complex world.
Tanya comforts and reassures the Beinoni three times, in three different ways: Tanya 27, 31 and 35. The Struggle IS Significant!
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Any further thoughts? We’re interested! We can’t add to the printed “Hakhel-Halftime” version but can certainly add more Superbowl LX insights here online!