Not long after six teammates from the New England Patriots dropped the news that they would not be attending the championship White House visit later this year, their quarterback and star, Tom Brady, posted a message on Instagram about what the power of sports is.
Brady is making the argument that no matter a person’s political preference, sports has the power to unite people.
What a concept, right? One that’s been around since the beginning …. and yet after Obama’s destruction on American minds, it has been so easily forgotten.
Now, Brady is coming out to speak more directly about some of his teammates and it’s getting their attention. Their decision to forego the White House special invite for their win is not sitting well with him and his words are echoing the words of Patriots’ owner, Robert Kraft.
In an interview with Mike Florio on ProFootballTalk Live, this is what Brady said:
“Everybody has their own choice. There’s certain years, like a couple years ago, I wanted to go, and then didn’t get the opportunity based on the scheduling. We didn’t get told until 10 days before we were going and at that point I had something that I had been planning for months.”
Who is Brady talking about? He is talking about the Patriots’ last visit to the White House in 2015 when Barack OBama was still in office. Brady didn’t attend this dinner because of a prior commitment.
He continues by saying that even though some of his teammates are skipping the visit due to their political reasons, it has never been about politics for him:
“Putting politics aside it never really was a political thing— at least it never was for me. It was just always something that was a privilege to be able to do because it really meant you won a championship and you got to experience something cool with your team and your teammates.”
As Fox Sports reports, it’s not unusual for players to skip the White House visit.
Brock Osweiler did it last year when the Denver Broncos won the Super Bowl, and big name stars such as basketball legend Michael Jordan and baseball’s Albert Pujols have done it, too.
Brady added that he would never criticize a teammate for not going to the White House, saying that the off-season is precious and valuable time for any athlete:
“It’s an off-season and these days are valuable for everybody. You only get so much time with your family and friends. If people don’t wanna go, they don’t wanna go, and that’s their choice.”