Montana, USA – 2021

A treasure trove of characters in a dive bar saloon in Western Montana. The question is, who would you want as your partner? Do you go for perceived experience or looks?

The suave gentleman on the left looks the part, but he could be a little callow and raw. It may pay to go with the menace to his left. Looks can be deceiving. The wolf carries an assertive confidence and seems to be holding court, but he is, after all, a wolf. Singer and entertainer Ciara looks too good to be playing pool and surely she can’t have much experience hustling in pool bars? It’s beneath her. But how can you turn her down?

The answer is to go with the character on the left – he is one of the best performing rookies of all time.

Russell Wilson’s Rookie year at the Seattle Seahawks (the 2012 season) was the stuff of legends. He was named NFL Rookie of the Year and took the Seahawks to within one game of the Superbowl. (This despite being 75th in the 2012 NFL draft). He only had to wait 12 months to cement his status.

In early 2014, Wilson led the Seahawks to their first Superbowl victory in which they trounced the marginal favourites, the Denver Broncos, 43 – 8 in New Jersey. This is still the largest ever Superbowl victory for the underdog. The game attracted a viewing audience in America of 111 million which, at the time, was a historical record for a US television broadcast.