Anyone else take issue with Tom Brady on cover of Boys Life?

[DeanRx]

Hey -

 

I'm new to teh forums, so might as well just in the deep end with both feet !!

 

Anyways, am I the only scouter that felt a twinge of "that's not right" when their son received the latest issue (Sept 08) of Boys Life? Tom Brady and "Almost Perfect" on the cover...

 

Now, I will not begrudge the fact that Mr. Brady is an outstanding athelete, he's one of the best QB's to ever lace up cleats. But I have a couple issues with BL using him on the cover.

 

First - Given his off-field romances and out-of-wedlock fathering of a child, is he REALLY the type of role model BL and BSA should be holding up as a "poster boy" of perfection?

 

Second - Given the NFL's "investigation" into the Patriot's "vidoetaping" scandle the past 2 seasons, not only does Mr. Brady make poor personal choices, he is employed and endorses a company (the NE Pats) that are of suspect ethics in their industry.

 

Finally - the whole "Almost Perfect" title... Really, is that what we want our kids' standard to be?

 

Even if I can get past the moral and ethical issues surrounding Mr. Brady's personal and professional choices. Are we raising kids to think that performing at the highest level of their profession for nearly a decade, winning multiple championships, MVP's / etc... yet having ONE big loss in that timeframe makes you just "almost perfect"?

 

That's like telling adolescent girls that they look fat! They get that type of negative feedback far too often in society. Boys get it in the form of, "You had a great season, except for the one loss...."

 

I don't know if I'm more disappointed about BL's poor choice of a role model OR the fact that once they decided to run with the story, they emphasize the ONE failure on the cover instead of focusing on the multitude of atheltic success this man has attained.

 

I wrote a letter to the editor at BL and have yet to hear any response. For the most part BL is a GREAT magazine and they publish GREAT articles. But I feel the followed up poor judgement (in choosing the subject) with a lackluster spin (even HE's not perfect)on this one.

 

Any feedback from the group would be most welcome.

 

Thanks,

 

DeanRx

[evmori]

I'm not a Brady fan & don't feel what the Patriots did was engineered by him. I do take issue with his out of wedlock kid & cavalier attitude about his prowess with women.

 

No I don't feel he is a good role model for boys.

 

Ed Mori

1 Peter 4:10

[croushorn]

I would agree, but we all know how much BL is constantly trying to keep their connection to youth today and this is one of the things they may have to sacrifice to get/stay there. Where should they draw the line? Would having a new American icon like Michael Phelps do that? As much as he should, Id doubt hed have the connection a Brady type does. It's hard enough to get these guys to read the magazine.

[SSScout]

* I have a hard time rooting for anyone who is paid more per hour than I make in a year. They need MY support?

 

*I like to point to the Medivac helicopter pilots and paramedics that "entertain" by flying wowser 'copters AND save lives.

 

* College Ball is more exciting to me, anyhow. They seem to do the different, the riskier plays, they take chances in the tactics and strategy more than the pros.

 

* This guys car washing bill would buy a months worth of food for a village in Dafur.

 

 

 

 

[scoutldr]

I saw an out of wedlock father get the Eagle award, so that's apparently not an issue for the BSA.

 

I don't even know who Brady is (I'm not much of a sports fan). I did raise my eyebrows, though, of the corporate CEO whose favorite author is Ayn Rand (a noted atheist and Libertarian who founded the Objectivist movement), author of "Atlas Shrugged" and "The Fountainhead".

[packsaddle]

I am told by students and some concerned athletics people that there exists a certain culture among the athletes that views out-of-wedlock children as a status symbol. This is at the college level. I suggest that if this is true, this attitude starts even earlier someplace.

[starwolfmom]

I'm so glad to hear that I'm not the only one who had that reaction to Tom Brady on the cover. "Morally straight" he is not, and I don't consider him a role model for any of my children.

 

I also felt the same about the Exxon exec who named Ayn Rand's book as his favorite. Not a philosophy compatible with Scouting.

 

Elizabeth

[MarkS]

IMHO Tom Brady does not exlempify the ideals of the Scout Oath and Law and therefore should not be on the cover of BL. However, if he's available in my FFB draft this weekend, I'll snatch him up in a heartbeat and hope is foot is okay later.

 

(This message has been edited by MarkS)

[GKlose]

I live up in Brady territory, and I am a Patriots fan -- but when I first saw the cover, a couple of days ago, my initial reaction was "uh oh, there's gonna be some people that will have some problems with this."

 

I think I can answer for my kids (ages 11 and 9) that they are blissfully unaware of anything that happens in any professional athlete's personal lives, other than maybe this last year's juicing scandals. In fact, I'm watching Kobe Bryant at the Olympics last week (I'm not particularly a fan of pro basketball) and while watching everyone fawn all over him, I'm thinking to myself: doesn't anyone remember what happened in Colorado a few years ago?

[Gold Winger]

"I am told by students and some concerned athletics people that there exists a certain culture among the athletes that views out-of-wedlock children as a status symbol."

 

A ghetto dwelling friend told me that is the norm in the black community because it shows that "you be a man and that you can get the job done with yo' b****."

 

"I like to point to the Medivac helicopter pilots and paramedics that "entertain" by flying wowser 'copters AND save lives."

 

What is a "wowser" copter?

 

 

[Eagletrek]

While I agree that Brady's antics aren't in accord with the Scout Oath and Law I'm not too concerned about him being on the cover as the first thing my boys focus on is "Scouts In Action." They are always wowed by how scouts have come to the aid of their fellow citizens.

[SSScout]

"wowser, (wows'-er), adj. obs. 1. Exemplary, marvelous, tending to be amazing; 2. Worthy of a young person's adulation or immediate attention; as in "thats a wowser of a helicopter, grandad, fer shur". See also Inspector Gadget. "

 

Yes, if one quality of a person is desirable (bullet 50 yard passes), then one can ignore other, less desirable qualities (knock up as many females of the species as possible).

[Docrwm]

I, too, am glad to hear that I'm not the only one that was a bit taken aback by that choice. Frankly, BL has some good material in it but nearly every month there is stuff that I have to think long and hard about letting my Wolf take a look at - and sometimes he just gets parts of BL.

[Eagle1982]

You may think your kids are blissfully unaware of Brady's personal life, but I have found that, especially after they start puberty, they are more aware than adults give them credit for.

 

I've had issues with some of the advertisements in the past in BL also. I actually sent them a letter, and they did reply, though not really addressing the actual points in the letter.

[AvidSM]

From what I hear, the BSA's association with NASCAR is expiring next year and they now are looking at Baseball, the NFL and the NBA. Brady's picture on the front cover of BL is just the beginning. I guess they are willing to overlook his behavior off the field. Humans are not perfect beings - not even "almost perfect".

 

NASCAR is somewhat of a joke here in New Jersey. It's hard to get excited about a sport that looks like the traffic on the NJ Turnpike during rush hour -a little slower and without the advetising, of course.