Brady facing celebrity-level scrutiny
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Not from the paparazzi, which stalked New England quarterback Tom Brady last week as he gimped around New York City with his foot in a walking boot. Not from sports fans who will never get enough of Brady's girlfriend Gisele Bündchen. And definitely not from Patriots players, who roared as video of a hooded Brady entering Bündchen's residence aired repeatedly on Boston television stations.
"All we did was laugh and have fun with it," linebacker Tedy Bruschi said. "The flowers he was carrying, the sunglasses he was wearing, everything.
"Don't we have a Democrat/Republican presidential thing going on? And there's Brady on the front page (of the newspaper). It was comical."
Even Brady had to laugh at the absurdity of it all.
"I am much lighter on my toes than I thought," said Brady, referring to his dodging of photographers whenever setting foot outside Bündchen's apartment.
Brady, though, may be losing his patience. He wouldn't say whether Bündchen is attending the Super Bowl and seemed at least half-serious Sunday when telling the media, "Don't any of you be chasing me around. I won't be nearly as nice as I was last week."
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A quick internet search reveals a slew of photos that Brady and Bündchen neither approved or would have wanted made public. Brady and Bündchen are captured kissing at a Manhattan restaurant, sharing an intimate moment at the beach and eating poolside during a South Florida getaway. There are dozens of other shots showing such mundane acts as the couple entering a cab, leaving a nightclub and walking down the street holding hands (including one where Brady commits the sin of wearing a New York Yankees cap).
As two of the most recognizable figures in their respective fields, Brady and Bündchen would automatically draw attention away from the football field and modeling runway. Brady also has opened himself to additional scrutiny by deciding to date celebrities (he had a prior relationship with actress Bridget Moynahan). Dallas Cowboys quarterback Tony Romo did the same last year when he began seeing actress Jessica Simpson.
But the privates lives of any professional athlete have become fair game. The internet is bursting with uploaded j-pegs from parties and bars, including those casting players in an embarrassing light. The other starting quarterback in Super Bowl XLII knows that first-hand. An unflattering photograph of Eli Manning holding a beer began making the rounds in 2006.
Players once knew they could enjoy a night on the town without their exploits becoming public. Sports reporters turned a blind eye to such matters; the concept of camera phones seemed like something Q would have invented in a James Bond movie.
Former Miami Dolphins running back Jim Kiick fondly recalls bar-hopping around Long Beach before Super Bowl VII in January 1973 with four teammates (including designated driver Dick Anderson). Kiick had such a good time the following season at Super Bowl VIII he doesn't remember his pre-game antics.
Kiick said he would have to be much more guarded if playing today.
"Whether you're doing something that millions of others do — like have a beer or run a stoplight — all of a sudden, it's now a headline," said Kiick, whose team won both Super Bowls. "It's very difficult for these guys today. I feel for the players and stars that have this problem."
So does Will Leitch. But that doesn't keep Leitch from posting shots of partying athletes on Deadspin.com, a popular internet sports blog that draws more than 11 million hits each month.
Leitch even has subcategories for these images. "Groupies" highlights photos of male athletes posing with female fans. Entering Brady's name into a Deadspin search engine generates 222 entries, some of which chronicle (and needle) his dating escapades.
"I do think athletes should have private lives, but that's not how the planet works any more," Leitch said. "Frankly — and I'm not saying it's right — athletes have had a free ride for a long time.
"It's amazing it took this long in a lot of ways. We talk ourselves into thinking athletes are heroic and all these things. They're paid entertainers.
"I'm not sure athletes are to the point that people will jump out of bushes at them and they'll be followed to clubs every night. They don't cross over to the gossip audience quite enough, so it will never be as invasive as the world of celebrities. But certainly, that world has crept into sports a little bit."
That should have a trickle-down effect on this week's pre-Super Bowl socializing. Players know they can't act the same as some Patriots did six years ago — partying on the balcony of a Bourbon Street strip club prior to Super Bowl XXXVI — without causing a scandal.
"You've got to watch what you do," Patriots center Dan Koppen said. "Handle yourself and behave in the manner of how your family and team would want you to. You're in the spotlight. You don't have a choice. You just are, so you really have to behave and be a role model.
"If you want (privacy), you're probably not in the right profession."
Brady is well aware of that. He admits "the places I used to go for refuge aren't necessarily the places you go anymore" because of privacy concerns.
But Brady doesn't plan to change his off-field lifestyle.
"You find ways to deal with your life and manage it when you leave the stadium," Brady said. "I think sometimes that is challenging for all of us as athletes when you leave places where you feel very protected, to go out and still find ways to enjoy it. I certainly do that.
"I think none of that gets in the way of what I think is most important — playing football. At the end of the day, I think that is what is extremely important in my life."
Even if sports fans now have so much interest in everything else.
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