
Maddie Meyer/Getty Images
Tyrann Mathieu, by every metric outside of God Given Ability, should not be a Super Bowl champion.
- Abandoned by his mother at birth.
- Biological father jailed for murder for most of his life.
- Uncle Keith “murdered in the street while holding his baby son in his hands.”
- Uncle Donell dead of AIDS from “dirty needles.”
- Uncle Andre murdered in an argument.
- Aunt Trina “died on Thanksgiving, when some jackass ran a red light.”
- Family homeless after hurricane Katrina.
- Kicked off the team at LSU for a season for innocuous weed violation.
It’s nearly impossible for me and my muffin top to try feel how fulfilling winning a Super Bowl would be, but I’d have to imagine it’s a bit sweeter for the Honey Badger knowing the journey was arduous and dark and deep.
“I’m a warrior,” Mathieu said in a 2016 interview how he was able to survive a life of carnage. “I’ve lived through a lot — and it couldn’t kill me.”
Before the biggest game of his life, Mathieu gathered his men and delivered a pre-war speech that is best delivered by someone who knows a thing or two about battling and conquering and repeating.
https://twitter.com/NFLFilms/status/1224452999537233920?s=20
Just hours after his team scored 21 unanswered points to win his first Super Bowl, Mathieu wasn’t thinking about his next drink or sexual intercourse with a consenting female, he was thinking about a man inside the Hunts Correctional Facility in St. Gabriel, Louisiana who will never be free again.
Can’t wait till my dad call me from prison. I know they turnt in their. It’s 321 TVs in Hunts Correctional facility & I know every last TV was on The Game & everybody in their was rooting for us. We did it!
— Tyrann Mathieu (@Mathieu_Era) February 3, 2020
Sometimes respect is a choice, and sometimes it’s demanded.
https://twitter.com/things_doug/status/1224170949806870528?s=20
Super Bowl Champion Tyranna Mathieu.
TL;DR Stay The Course.