These Are My JOTtings...

"Tomorrow Is Another Day!"

That's not the first time a Northerner marched through and burned Atlanta. We recovered back then, and we will recover again. Besides, Atlanta is one of the top cities in the United States. Year round Atlanta is a household name. Who knows Foxboro, Massachusetts in the off-season?

(Please, forgive the "sour grapes." I'm still grieving a little.)

Anyway, it was nice while it lasted. The fans in Georgia felt like winners for much of the game, but there was unrest in my heart.

When Atlanta was up 28-3, some voices in the room with me were saying, "See, Tom Brady, you're not so good, when your under pressure." I kept warning them, "Don't say that! It's Tom Brady! You never count him out."

A lesser man would have folded, when his team spotted the Atlanta Falcons 25 points, but he took it in stride. A true winner is not someone, who can avoid getting knocked down. A true winner is someone, who keeps getting up and keeps moving forward no matter how many times he gets knocked down.

I guess I really identified with Atlanta, feeling that we were due a victory because in 51 years of team history, Atlanta has still yet to win the Super Bowl. Yet I take some consolation in the fact that we are not alone. Two of the greatest quarterbacks in NFL history will never wear a Super Bowl ring as a player. These men are Fran Tarkington and Dan Marino.

I know there is a place in the world for great individuals to play support roles. I often play supporting cast in community theater. In May of this year I am slated to play the part of Professor Kirke in The Lion, The Witch & The Wardrobe. The role has relatively few words, but I must be at my best or the performance will be less than it should be.

"There are no small roles, only small actors."

In Georgia we know our role. We play well enough to see the top, but we rarely stand on it. There is some consolation in the fact that our intensity in reaching for the top makes the ultimate winner just that much better.

We wish we could have won, tonight, but we will get up and keep striving for the top. Let us not forgot that the Denver Broncos finally won the Super Bowl after four losses with John Elway at the helm.

Even the Chicago Cubs won the World Series this past season. It is this fact that I thought might place our beloved Atlanta Falcons in better stead for this game.

O, well! "Tomorrow is another day!" said Scarlett O'Hara in Gone with The Wind, historical fiction which takes place in and around the mythical plantation of Tara in Atlanta, Georgia.

I'm a member of the Rising Stars Program for 2016-2017