Skywalker and Brady

June 1997. Like most kids in the nation at the time, my focus was on one person: Michael Jordan. MJ had just come off his famous “flu game” in which he dominated the Utah Jazz despite physical illness. Now, he was finishing them off for his fifth NBA championship.

I was watching the game at the home of my friends Tyler and Travis Roe. We were waiting for the game to end, and then we were going to recreate it in their driveway as only 10-year-old boys can do. 

As we watched the game in the Roe’s basement, their dad turned to me and said, “You are going to have to take off that Bulls t-shirt if you are watching this game in my house.” I couldn’t tell if he was joking, serious, or both. It didn’t matter though.

I quickly ripped off my shirt.  With my Michael Jordan jersey underneath my Bulls shirt, I laughed and yelled, “Let’s go Bulls!” Then I sat back down.

I’ve always loved sports. I’ve spent lots of lawn mowing money on trading cards, hats, shirts, and even tickets to see games in person. Perhaps because I grew up in Idaho, my team preferences always seemed to change. I became more of a player person and that continues today.

Aside from Boise State and USC football and the Los Angeles Angels in baseball, I really don’t follow teams. I follow players. I also find that, with exceptions, I cheer for the elite players.

As a result, I cheered for Michael Jordan, Barry Bonds, Lance Armstrong, Tiger Woods, Peyton Manning, and Tom Brady among many others. Then something happened that forever changed the way I view sports: I read some books about Michael Jordan.

For first time in my life, I realized one of my sports heroes was deeply flawed. Jordan used vulgar language, was a jerk to most of his teammates, a womanizer, and had a terrible gambling problem. The more I learned, the more upset I became. I had spent my childhood idolizing a man that was very different from the type of man I wanted to become. To this day, I am still bitter toward MJ.

Over the last 15 years I’ve been let down by so many other athletes. Some cheated, some lied, some were just really bad people. With so many disappointments, I have had to adjust how I examine athletes. How do I let their morals and character affect how much I support them?

Today, the way I consume sports is very different. I don’t usually have the means to watch games. Yet I still read about sports and follow them in other ways. So when I learned this last week about Tom Brady I was upset and confused.
I didn’t always like Tom Brady, but I have really enjoyed learning about his determination and dedication. I mean the guy doesn’t even eat chocolate and goes to bed at 8:30 in order to be in top shape! Consequently, I have developed quite the man-crush on Tom Brady.

So it is no wonder that when news broke that the Patriots had underinflated footballs, friends and family prompted me to abandon ship if I hadn’t already done so. My brother, Jared, went so far as to email me this oddly accurate analogy: 

“I know you enjoy a good analogy: Brady is like Anniken Skywalker; good and innocent in the beginning of his career, but after years of tutelage from the Emperor (Bellicheck) he has turned to the dark side.  Taking it one step further, you are like Luke, confused about whether to follow your father (Brady) or listen to the wise counsel of Yoda (myself).  Anyways, hope you are doing well and may the Force be With You.”

My mind is telling me that Brady isn’t being honest, but my heart is having a hard time with this one. It could be the straw that broke the camel’s back. 

Can I ever trust an athlete again? When is it okay to cheer for someone and when do you have to kick him to the curb? Is ignorance bliss? 

I don’t know the answers to these questions. I really don’t. I guess I will have to wait until next week to see if Yoda is having any effect on me.

-Kyle Von