Tyrann Mathieu’s Incredible Pre-Game Super Bowl Speech Slaps Harder Because He’s Battled And Conquered His Entire Life

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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.

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. 

Matt Keohan Avatar
Matt’s love of writing was born during a sixth grade assembly when it was announced that his essay titled “Why Drugs Are Bad” had taken first prize in D.A.R.E.’s grade-wide contest. The anti-drug people gave him a $50 savings bond for his brave contribution to crime-fighting, and upon the bond’s maturity 10 years later, he used it to buy his very first bag of marijuana.