How Bruce Lee Inspired Christian McCaffery
The martial artist’s teachings helped the 49ers star reach new heights
This Super Bowl Sunday, at some point, the nation will turn its attention towards San Francisco 49ers running back Christian McCaffery. He’ll receive a handoff—or maybe he’ll be lined up at receiver—and he’ll explode off the line of scrimmage. Football is about power and speed, and though the quickness is most obvious in McCaffery’s game, it’s really power that has turned him into one of the most lethal weapons in the NFL.
While we watch, all the usual metaphors will come to mind: he’s like a bolt of lightning, a cheetah, a bulldozer. But those aren’t quite right.
Instead, think of water.
That’s what McCaffery does.
You see, football players find inspiration from the unlikeliest of places, and if you talk to Christian McCaffery, you’ll find that much of his football philosophy is derived not from a particular coach or hall of famer. It comes from the martial arts icon Bruce Lee.
When McCaffery was little, his father Ed—a Super Bowl champion receiver in his own right—showed his son the film Enter the Dragon. A young Christian was enamored, and he watched any Lee movie he could find. Soon, he started reading Lee’s books, seeking out his interviews, and before long, when father and son talked about Lee, what they were really talking about was philosophy. “I loved the movies because of the action, but when I really dove into what he was saying, I became really fascinated by it,” Christian told a reporter several years ago. “A lot of what he said was true. And I think a lot of it went against the grain.”
There was one quote of Lee’s that became something like a mantra to Christian. “Be formless, shapeless,” Lee once said. “Like water.” Lee was famous for his ability to turn stillness into strength; he would often perform a punch that only required him moving his body one inch yet still knocked down the man who stood across him.
“You’re on the line of scrimmage,” Christian’s father Ed explained. “How do you get your body, without jumping offsides and having a false start, ready to go?…It looks like you’re stationary, and then you’re exploding from a static position.”
Water was a frequent theme in Lee’s philosophy—even when talking about how to generate strength. “Now,” Lee said, “water can flow…or it can crash. Be water, my friend.”
“That obviously can be applied to life,” Christian said. “But in athletics, I’ve never been the biggest, strongest guy out there, and that quote makes a lot of sense to me…being able to shift your body and go with the flow.”
Maybe it’s a touchdown. Maybe it’s a routine three-yard gain. But watch Christian closely this Sunday. Watch him before the ball snaps. Watch him stand still. And then…notice the crash. Notice the power. Notice the flow.
🎸 We’re heading to SXSW! This week, we announced that our latest project, Thank You, Goodnight: The Bon Jovi Story, will premier this March in Austin.
👀 Christian McCaffery’s father Ed won a Super Bowl with the Denver Broncos. His coach? Mike Shanahan. Christian’s coach in San Francisco? Mike’s son Kyle. It would be a pretty incredible story. This week, ESPN’s Seth Wickersham examined how Kyle Shanahan is finally ready to meet the moment.
💜 Before The Big Game, use this classic oral history to relive the greatest halftime show of all-time: Prince’s 2007 performance as rain fell in Miami.
📸 Here’s an inspiring one: Nash Pils is a junior at Franklin High school in Texas who has Down’s Syndrome. He takes incredible photos of the school’s teams, who call him their “MVP.”
⛷️ Footballed out? Want something totally different. Make some time for Simon Akam’s hair-raising storyabout Jérémie Heitz, the “freeride” skier who has pushed the sport further than anyone before.