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There is a stereotype about women in that they are often catty when engaging with one another. Instead of supporting each other, they offer cutting digs, sarcastic comments, and gossip.
Well, men are plenty catty too.
This past Sunday, 5-time Super Bowl Champion and arguably the greatest quarterback of all time, Tom Brady, was Oprah’s guest on her weekly interview program, Super Soul Sunday. I live outside of Boston, Massachusetts, one the most celebrated sports cities in the world. I’ve had the pleasure of witnessing two of Tom’s Super Bowl victories in person. I often have sports radio on in the background while I work each day.
In the week leading up to Tom’s appearance with Oprah, I heard so many men, both radio hosts, and callers, rip into Tom for associating with Oprah. Tearing into his wife, Gisele Bündchen, for “changing” Tom. Multiple radio personalities ranted on and one about their belief that Tom Brady should be happy playing football and stop doing anything else.
One guy seemed truly upset about Tom having goals beyond the football field.
Brady said, “I want to live a great, impactful, purposeful life and I want to impact people with the lessons that I’ve learned.” The small-minded radio guy was so triggered by another man daring to live a more meaningful life, pushing beyond his comfort zone and creating more spirituality in his life that he attempted to mock Tom’s interest in his personal growth and for wanting to know the “whys” of life. He insisted that Brady should be happy with what he’s achieved and stop all this other “nonsense.”
It disgusted me. It saddened me.
I had thought men had come far enough not to set out to destroy the dreams of another man. It saddens me when men attack another man for being interested in his own growth and spirituality. The more Tom welcomes being seen as more than a quarterback, the more I admire him. This a quality father, husband, and man.
If you want to play on a small and safe stage for your life, fine, but if you have to justify that be attacking men interested in doing and being more, that is far from fine. Anytime you attack, bully or put down someone else for what they are doing, take a moment to be honest with yourself and be willing to see what is really upsetting you.
Is it what someone else is doing or is it more about what you aren’t doing?
One host spoke sincerely of the delimena of watching Super Soul Sunday and explaining it to his girlfriend. He railed on as if any man who knew where to find the OWN channel was less of a man. That any red-blooded, American sports fans couldn’t possibly also be an Oprah fan or have ever heard of such a silly show as Super Soul Sunday. At first, I thought this was all made up drama for the sake of exciting radio, but host after host for multiple days mocked Brady for doing anything besides throwing a football.
I’ve been to ten season’s of New England Patriots games, AND I’ve been watching Super Soul Sunday since it began in 2011. Imagine that, a man capable of multiple interests; fascinating.
I avoided those shows in the days following the airing of the interview. I didn’t care what they thought and didn’t want to give them the opportunity to tear people down further. I liked the show, and that is all the only opinion that I care about.
If you haven’t seen it, you can watch it here.
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Photo credit: OWN
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