Klosterman Inverviews Brady

First things first, I’m a bigger Chuck Klosterman fan than Tom Brady fan.  Klosterman is witty, a huge sports nut, and his popular culture references are always spot on.  Tom Brady is a fine QB who is leading my fantasy team to a 7-3 record and in 1st place for the league.  For this I like him.  For his team winning games, I’m indifferent.

This interview with Klosterman and Brady is a gold mine.  It’s filled with nuggets of why I love Klosterman and why I still will never truly care for Tom Brady.

Without re-copying all of the interview, Tom Brady will not answer the question whether he was “generally aware” of the deflated balls.  He won’t answer yes or no.  He quite simply says he won’t talk about it.

Klosterman accurately attempts to explain this with:

I strongly suspect the real reason Brady did not want to answer a question about his “general awareness” of Deflategate is pretty uncomplicated: He doesn’t want to keep saying something that isn’t true, nor does he want to directly contradict what he said in the past. I realize that seems like a negative thing to conclude about someone I don’t know. It seems like I’m suggesting that he both cheated and lied, and technically I am.

It’s hard to come up with any other reason for why Brady will not answer the question.  I particularly liked this question that Klosterman never got a chance to ask, “Do you now concede some of the balls might have been below the legal limit, even if you had no idea this was happening? Or was the whole thing a total fiction?”

Dude.  You did it.  You freaking did.  You would have 100% said you didn’t have any awareness in this interview if you honestly didn’t have any general awareness.  You can’t answer the question because it digs at you deep inside to lie by answering no.  Now, do I really care?  Not really.

I personally loved the way Klosterman categorized a cheater.  “A deficiency of character adds character, somehow. It proves that the cheater cared.”  “It’s also what makes Brady different from normal people, and from other quarterbacks: He will do whatever it takes to win, regardless of what that win represents”

People like Brady are playing a different game.  They have physical abilities that are superior than ours and they have the gall to work every single angle that’s available for an edge.  They are just different.