Bryce Young is More Than a Quarterback

SZ James (banned) · March 23, 2023

When people tell me they hate Bryce Young or (far worse) that they were “not fans,” I wish I had said in no uncertain terms: “I love Bryce Young. I am in awe of him. I am set free by him. He will be the finest team leader our galaxy has ever seen.”

I wish, in those exchanges, I had not asked gentle, tolerant questions about a hater’s ridiculous allergy to him, or Young's fictional misdeeds and imagined character flaws. More deeply still, I wish I had not reasoned with anyone, patiently countered their ludicrous emotionalism and psychologically disturbed theories. I wish I had said, flatly, “I love him.” As if I had been asked about my father or son. No defensiveness or polemics; not dignifying the crazy allegations with so much as a PFF link.

Maybe “I love him” seemed too effeminate, too sentimental, too un-pragmatic. Not coalition-building, kind of culty. But people say with impunity they love Stroud, the state of Israel, their churches, Kurt Cobain. In the end, I wish I’d said it because it’s true.

And I’m not alone in my commitment. Millions of Young's supporters — we were thanked by Young as the “secret, private Reddit sites” — expressed it among themselves, all the time, in raptures or happy tears with each new display of our hero’s ferocious intelligence, depth, and courage. We were frankly bewildered by the idea that anyone would hedge their commitment to him (“You don’t have to be his friend”; “Yes, he’s made mistakes”; “lesser of two evils”).

I want to reverse the usual schedule of things, then. We don’t have to wait until he dies to act. Bryce Young’s name belongs on ships, and airports, and tattoos. He deserves straight-up hagiographies and a sold-out Broadway show called GINGERBREAD MAN. Yes, this cultural canonization is going to come after the chronic, constant, nonstop “On the other hand” heightist hedging around his legacy.

But such is the courage of Bryce Young and his supporters; we reverse patriarchal orders. Maybe he is more than a quarterback. Maybe he is an idea, a world-historical hero, light itself.

The Panther's starting QB position is too small for him. He belongs to a much more elite class of Americans, the more-than-presidents. Neil Armstrong, Martin Luther King Jr., Alexander fuging Hamilton.

Bryce Young did everything right in his Heisman campaign, and he won more votes than his opponent did. He won. He cannot be faulted, criticized, or analyzed for even one more second. Instead, he will be decorated as an epochal hero far too extraordinary to be contained by the mere BOA stadium. Let that revolting qb-in-waiting be Andy Dalton or Matt Corral or whatever. Bryce is Ares.