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The Super Bowl’s MVP, Baltimore Ravens quarterback Joe Flacco, is an unlikely star for such a high-profile show. |
“Joe is dull. As dull as he’s portrayed in the media, he’s that dull. He is dull,” his father, Steve Flacco, told The New York Times ahead of Sunday’s game.
“I don’t really concern myself with that. It’s all good with me,” the sportsman admitted with a smile before the match. He led the Ravens to the title, throwing for 287 yards and three touchdowns against the San Francisco 49ers (34-31).
Flacco has so far been off the radar of American football, the most popular sport in the United States. That may be why he is given less credit than other quarterbacks with worse statistics, and perhaps also why he is yet to renew his contract. However, everything will be different for him now, with a Super Bowl and a Super Bowl MVP title to his name.
Flacco became a hero despite himself. He is not like the handsome and successful Tom Brady, who is married to Brazilian supermodel Giselle Bundchen, and he lacks the personality of his team-mate Ray Lewis and the explosive play of San Francisco 79ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick, who kisses his biceps after every successful move. “No tattoos,” Flacco said in New Orleans, where the ink on Lewis and Kaepernick prompted countless stories.
“I’m a Raven for life,” he said after the final, in what may be interpreted as a will to stay on with a contract that puts him in a league with other star quarterbacks, like Drew Brees, Peyton Manning or Brady.
He beat the last two en route to the title, and even the uncertainty regarding his professional future appeared to throw him off balance.
Flacco may not be the most charismatic American football player, but after his performance Sunday he is in a good position to negotiate a contract worth around 20 million dollars per season. That would make him the NFL’s highest-paid player.
“I believe (dull) probably means I’m going out there and carrying myself in a good manner and not really giving anybody a reason to maybe like me or dislike me,” said Flacco, convinced as he is that his calm personality is precisely the key to his success.
And yet even Flacco got out of hand as he celebrated, with a swear word that CBS did not have time to censor.
“It’s just who I am,” he said Monday, as if to apologise for not fulfilling all expectations in the land of marketing. “I don’t really know if your demeanor off the field impacts that but it may.”
From now on Flacco will be on everyone’s radar. On Monday, he was to appear on the late show with David Letterman, and the TV star will do his best to prove that the quarterback is not, in fact, quite that dull.