The Games and My Nerves January 29, 2007
Posted by JP in : My Super Proposal , 31 commentsI can’t believe I haven’t talked about the matchup yet. In my opinion, it’s a great one - the Bears were clearly the dominant team in the NFC this year and even though they looked a bit leaky in the win over Seattle, they showed true poise, on both offense and defense, against the league’s leading offensive unit - the Saints. In all honesty, I would have loved to see the Saints go to the Super Bowl - they had such a terrific story it was impossible not to be on their side (I’ve heard that even from some Bears fans friends of mine). But, in the end, I’m glad to see the best team representing the NFC - bravo to the Bears, there’s no doubt they earned this one.
On the AFC side, the Colts are perhaps the NFL’s most consistent winning team - for 4 seasons in a row now, people have wondered when (or if) the Colts would get to the Super Bowl. With such a dominant group of players and a winning record that even the Super Bowl champs of the last few years could be jealous of, the Colts are where they should be. I know that a lot of people put the responsibility squarely on the shoulders of the team’s great quarterback - Manning. However, I think that Manning is a relative constant - he is very talented, but he’s (almost) always at the same level of excellence. When the Colts have faltered is when the other positions haven’t stepped up - the offensive and defensive lines (it’s actually my opinion that the war between these two determines the outcome of almost every game), the special teams (where the Colts have not been superb) and the receivers.
BTW - Yes, I am cheering for one of these two teams to win (as is my girlfriend), but I can’t say which 
On to other topics. The progress with finding a sponsor is so nerve-wracking that I have to put it out of my mind, do my job every day and almost forget that this might really happen. There’s now at least 6 companies that have been in touch with Joe about sponsoring all or part of the ad, but, so far, no one has solidly settled on it. CBS has been really sweet to us, though. I’ve been on a couple of phone calls with people from the network and they all believe in my dream and making it a reality. I know that sometimes we see big companies as faceless giants, but in the end, there are real people behind every one of them. When you start to form relationships with executives at companies, it makes a big difference. We’ve talked about our families, about when they proposed to their wives (or when their husbands proposed to them), about my girlfriend and what she’s like - those conversations combine to make real bonds, and I hope that they can last beyond the tenure of this wild proposal.
One of the things I did this weekend was to steal a few minutes away and make my own, homemade, amateur proposal on a video camera. It was easier than doing it in the big studio with everyone around and Joe says that a lot of the advertisers who are interested were desperate to see something on video (maybe to make sure I’m TV material). It takes me about 20 attempts to get one take that works -my nerves are pretty bad with something as big as this.
I honestly can barely take the next 7 days. I want so much to share everything that’s been happening in this secret life I lead with my girlfriend - to tell her about all the people I’ve talked to and the things I’ve done and see her smile. I know that even if everything doesn’t come together at the end, she’ll be astounded by what has happened. The money for charity, the appearances on TV shows, the dozens of radio interviews, the articles in newspapers and magazines - it’s almost too much to imagine.
Thanks to everyone who has been leaving such wonderful, positive comments lately. There were a lot of cynics at first, but as the thousands and thousands of people who visit this site every day started to pour in, it seems like there’s been a change of heart and to me, it’s been wonderful. The next 3 days should determine whether this really happens or not, and I promise I’ll let you know the first I hear.