Teddy Bruschi is Jesus...Apparently
I'm not trying to incite anything or be controversial with the words that follow...just trying to speak the truth as I see it.
Teddy Bruschi, in his first game back from the stroke he suffered 8 months ago, has just been named the AFC defensive player of the week.
There are two issues here that I want to get at:
1. He is so overhyped in this first game back that the award is being given to a man who was hardly the AFC's best defensive player last week. According to the article I linked, Bruschi had 10 tackles. According to this page (also a Yahoo page) he only had 2. So there seems to be some controversy as to how many tackles he even had. I sort of want to trust the box score page, which says 2, making his contribution marginal. I'm not completely sure, but it looks like all the hype about his "emotional lift" to the Pats has actually ballooned his statistics. Oh well...
It really bothers me how exaggerated his impact has become. He's now the "emotional leader" and the "core of their defense."
Well, I could have sworn I'd heard others say that Tom Brady was the "emotional leader" of the team. Or that Rodney Harrison and Ty Law were the "core of their defense." (yes, I know Harrison's injured and Law isn't on the team). But it's being made to sound like Bruschi is the only reason the Pats were ever good.
2. This is the real point. STOP PRAISING BRUSCHI FOR RETURNING TO A BRUTAL GAME 8 MONTHS AFTER A FREAKIN' STROKE!!! He is not brave. He is not dedicated. He is not noble. He is not "following his dreams and his passions." He is not to be emulated. He is not courageous.
Bruschi's quick return to the game following a stroke is, in no uncertain terms, patently stupid. Foolish. Risky. Dumb.
McNabb playing a whole game on a broken leg? That's brave.
Bruschi risking his life to play a game where people try to hurt and crush each other? Not brave.
Don't give me the hogwash Peter King is selling, about how "if Bruschi's doctors thought it was dangerous then they wouldn't have cleared him to play." Bruschi wanted to play. The Pats "needed" him back. And doctors are not bastions of truth and honor simply by their profession. And even if he is healthy...or even "healthy enough to play"...that doesn't erase the fact that he stroked out less than a year ago.
He's won Super Bowls and been to the Pro Bowl. He has a wife and young kids. He's a millionaire several times over. What's he coming back for? The only thing left is blind passion for the game, and that's just a ridiculously stupid thing to risk your life on.
The media doesn't seem to have a problem telling aging boxers that continued title fights will kill them slowly. Why are we praising Bruschi...awarding his risky behavior? How does Bruschi's return not spread the message that strokes aren't all that serious?
If he has another stroke and, heaven forbid, dies because of it...I wonder what the media will say. Will they question how smart a move it was to return to football even though he'd already accomplished everything? Or will they praise him as a man who loved football too much to walk away?
Either way, he'll have died for nothing. There is nothing he can gain by playing right now that he doesn't already have, or that would outweigh the ability to spend a long life with his family.
posted by Kennelworthy @ 11/02/2005 03:31:00 PM
5 comments
5 Comments:
Many people are, on the whole, all too ready to state that one game's (or other event in life) outcome completely proves a certain thesis that they hold (Thesis here: Bruschi makes the Pats win).
It doesn't matter the quantity of the contribution, it just matters that he played. If he had suited up and did a Rudy at the end of the game, we'd still be hearing the same saviour stuff. His spirit would have given rise to the Pats' D.
One game. Does not prove. Anything.
Great comments, KW. I completely agree. Why one would risk their life for football is beyond me. It's a great game, but I don't think it's worth dying for. Ask anyone's family who's lost someone to the game, see what they say.
I completely agree, but would never say that around here since I live in Massachusetts.
I especially like this paragraph:
"He's won Super Bowls and been to the Pro Bowl. He has a wife and young kids. He's a millionaire several times over. What's he coming back for? The only thing left is blind passion for the game, and that's just a ridiculously stupid thing to risk your life on."
John made me watch the pats game where he came back. I guess they were playing. . . the bills. Sound right? I don't really care about anything except hocky and they took away our Worcester Ice Cats so I'm screwed on that front too unless I want to pay for a Bruin's game. Side note, sorry. Moving on. . .
I said to John, if he just had a stroke why on EARTH is he playing again when he has a wife and kids to worry about? That implies to me (even if his wife was okay with it) that football is more important than his family. And everyone's saying, "Oh, he's the heart of the team." "what a courageous man. . ." blah blah blah.
THANK YOU for being a voice of reason and saying it.
Football doesn't play a very important role in my life, or any role at all, but I still have to hear it from the fanatics out there who think it's just super that this guy is being so careless with his health and family life. Good entry. :)
Glad you liked it.
If Bruschi, 8-months removed from a stroke, ran into a burning building to save some children...that would be heroic.
If he gave up a kidney for his wife or something...also heroic.
Playing football that close to a stroke is just plain silly. No two ways about it.
From familydoctor.org: "People who have had a stroke are at increased risk of having another stroke, especially during the first year after the first stroke."
From emedicinehealth.com: "People who have had a stroke have a 9 times greater risk of dementia than people who have not had a stroke. About 1 in 4 people who have a stroke develop signs of dementia within 1 year."
From lifeclinic.com: "More than one-third of all people who experience mini-strokes will go on to have a stroke. If you have already had a stroke, you may be up to ten times more likely to have another."
Just isn't worth the risk.
teddy bruschi is a saint
Post a Comment
<< Home