Elephants In The Room: Tom Brady's Interview At SSU
May 11, 2015 By: Michael DeFiore
Tom Brady, the embattled New England Patriot quarterback, appeared at the 33rd installment of the university’s Speaker’s Series on Thursday May 7. Brady was interviewed by renowned sportscaster Jim Gray less than a full day after the NFL’s release of the Wells report that concluded Brady was likely complicit on “Deflatgate.”
In the just-shy-of-an-hour long conversation that followed, Gray quipped, “There’s an elephant in the room.”.
“Where?” replied Brady. Four thousand fans cheered and laughed.“When I digest it fully, I’ll be sure to let you know how I feel about it,” was as much as Brady was willing to say.
The conversation then jumped from “deflategate” to the preapproved questions harvested weeks in advance on such topics as the importance of hydration before a game to bilingualism in the home (Brady’s wife, supermodel Gisele Bundchen, is Brazilian). The elephant in the room was as neatly evaded as a safety blitz. Maybe it was an end-around. Maybe it was a quarterback sneak. At any rate, Brady was out of the pocket and sprinting free.
Days earlier, the guidelines for the night were made clear to reporters: no questions, no recording, and no photos after the first 10 minutes. No one has yet indicated Brady’s fee. It’s still unclear whether the Brady camp knew that this event would coincide with the release of Ted Wells’ report, but what is clear is the amount of scrutiny the University garnered following its publication. News vans, camera crews, and helicopters were on campus from the early hours of the morning until approximately 11 o’clock at night, all clambering to get as close as possible to Brady, but to no avail. “I must have turned down 100 media outlets today,” said Karen Cady, Senior Director of Relations for the University.
Was Brady’s silence on direct order of his PR handlers, or was it one of the many conditions of bringing an athlete of his stature to a state school for an evening? Those stringent conditions did not apply to previous guests of the Series, the likes of which include Andre Dubus III, Maya Angelou, former Secretary of State Colin Powell, former President Bill Clinton( in his first post-presidency appearance), and comedian Jay Leno, all of whom took direct questions from students and permitted considerable access by the media.
Regardless, fans were happy to see him. “[He was a] great speaker and even cuter in real life,” said Sara Berkowitz. Another fan, John Sutherland, said, “He is so awesome. I’m sad it’s over,”
But as Brady was whisked away via private chopper and ascended back into the heavens from whence he came, the other, smaller elephant in the room was also ignored: Do Salem State students deserve more from a guest like Tom, or did everyone get their money’s worth?
Michael DeFiore is the out-going Editor-in-Chief of Red Skies.