Disclaimer: I am a giant huge Patriots fan. My shock, euphoria and disbelief about last night’s Super Bowl finish will probably last as long as President Obama’s after Chief Justice Roberts upheld the Affordable Care Act as constitutional. 

For my first post on this blog, I only semi-jokingly wrote that my New Year’s resolution was to make sure my schoolwork did not force me to miss a single episode of Game of Thrones. As I wrote in that post, some of the best advice you’ll get at this law school (or possibly any other – but I really hope you come to this one!) is “don’t give up the things you can’t do without.”

While law school has a reputation of being an infinite time suck that deprives students of the ability to do anything enjoyable at all, that reputation is simply untrue. Well, maybe it’s true for some people, but not for me. My time away from my classes and my assignments is what motivates me to put forth my best effort when I am doing my work. Here, let Tom Brady explain what I mean much more effectively in this Uggs ad:

As you can probably guess, one of the things I most enjoying doing when I’m not at school is watching the New England Patriots. I am not ashamed to admit that I love the Pats and their amazing quarterback, or that the team actually makes me perform tangibly better in my capacity as a law student.

Last night, in a fit of the shock, euphoria and disbelief described above, I posted the following story on Facebook. When it got over 100 likes, I decided it was worth sharing on here (or at least, as much worth sharing as anything else I have to say).

See, I wasn’t lying! And many of those likes came from my law school friends. Contrary to popular belief, we don’t all hate each other…

I’ll spare everyone the details of the choice words I had for my roommate and cut to the relevant part:

On August 12 (notice that number), I had an interview with the firm I’d wanted to work for since my first day at BC Law. The day before I’d had some interviews with a few other firms, and while my friends were telling me about all the callbacks they were getting, I had heard nothing. Ten minutes before my interview, I checked my phone like a total idiot and opened up a rejection email from one of those firms. I panicked. I felt like I was totally unqualified for these jobs, I felt like law school was a total mistake, and I felt like no one would ever hire me.

Then… I thought about Tom Brady. Tom Brady got rejected 198 times during the NFL Draft. He needed a freak accident to happen just to get his chance on the field. No one, NO ONE, thought he’d be any good, and what did he do? He won 3 Super Bowls in 4 years. He put together the most impressive single-season performance a quarterback ever had. And even when the Patriots lost, he came back working harder than he had before. And that made me, made US, feel like no matter the opponent, no matter the circumstances, we always had the best chance to win.

I went into that interview and I got the job.

No matter where you choose to go to law school, you are going to face very difficult challenges both inside and outside the classroom. Everyone, even the people in the top five percent of the class, feels overwhelmed at some point. Despite its reputation as the “Disneyland of law schools,” BC Law is no different in this regard.

No, what makes BC Law different (and one of the main reasons I chose to attend law school here) is the powerful sense of community that defines our student body. That sense of community provides the support that helps us power through those moments of overwhelming panic. That sense of community reminds us, “don’t give up the things you can’t do without,” when we need to hear it most. And that sense of community bonds us so tightly that I don’t feel the slightest embarrassment in letting the whole school know that thinking about Tom Brady was the only thing that kept me from tanking the biggest job interview of my life.

If that type of thing matters to you, then this is where you belong.

Thank you for reading.

I am currently in my fourth semester at BC Law and my second as a member of the Boston College Law Review. Feel free to contact me with questions about my experience, BC Law, or law school in general. Comment here or send me an e-mail at rossire@bc.edu, and don’t forget to follow the Boston College Law Students Association on Twitter @BCLSA.