Drunk Tom Brady took over Twitter on Wednesday. A video showing the notoriously clean-living QB stumbling onto shore after the Buccaneers’ Super Bowl-winning boat parade hurtled past 32 million views by the weekend.
Brady even had some fun at his own expense, tweeting under the video (typos all his): “Noting to see her ... just litTle avoCado tequila.”
Yet even if it felt weird to see Brady act so — how should we put it? — human, he’s certainly entitled to his fun, doing nothing illegal or frankly, all that unusual, given the pent-up emotion the Buccaneers were ready to release after winning a championship during the strangest NFL season in memory.
And still it gave me pause. Not because of Brady, whose revelry included one more Super Bowl pass completion, this one of the Lombardi Trophy itself, tossed from his own boat to that of Rob Gronkowski. No, the discomfort is caused by Britt Reid and the shadow he cast over last Sunday’s game with his decision to leave his job as a Chiefs assistant coach on the Friday night before the game and get behind the wheel of his vehicle despite having consumed a reported “two to three” alcoholic drinks.
It’s the flip side of the fun and games, presented in full, awful, heartbreaking color.
Reid’s reckless action led to tragedy, his collision with two parked vehicles on a highway offramp not far from the Chiefs’ practice facility leaving two young children seriously injured, including a 5-year-old who remains in critical condition. It’s a shadow that, frankly, hasn’t been covered nearly enough, not at all surprising given the game’s star broadcasting duo of Jim Nantz and Tony Romo didn’t even bother mentioning it until the 3:41 mark of the fourth quarter.
Reid, who is the son of Chiefs coach Andy Reid, never made the trip to Tampa for the Super Bowl. After being placed on administrative leave by the Chiefs, he reportedly saw his contract expire, which means he is no longer employed by the team. He has neither been arrested nor charged in connection to the accident, though the NFL issued a statement late in the week saying it would investigate it under the league’s personal conduct policy, while law enforcement investigations in Missouri continue.
The primary concern here is clear, and all prayers and well wishes go to Ariel Young that she is headed for a full recovery. An aunt who opened a GoFundMe account for the child has been providing updates (the page was approaching $470,000 on Friday afternoon), writing Thursday, “Thank you to everyone who continues to pray for Ariel and support the family in a time like this. She remains in a coma and there are no changes today. I’m hopeful that the next time I update this page it’s with better news.”
Here’s hoping indeed. But even as that news unfolds, the story of Britt Reid must stay in the forefront, too, not simply to ensure he will be held responsible if blood tests prove he was driving under the influence, but for the opportunity it can be as a high-profile reminder of the insidious yet entirely preventable danger of DUI.
Statistics from the website of Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD) point out that drunken driving is still the No. 1 cause of death on American roadways, that every two minutes someone is injured in a drunken driving crash, and that every 51 minutes someone is killed.
The group has a standing partnership with the NFL, and the Missouri/Kansas chapter has one with the Chiefs. It referenced that in a letter to team owner Clark Hunt, a copy of which it shared on its site. It urged the franchise to step up.
“As is the case with every impaired driving crash, our focus is to support those who have been impacted, as well as take a stand to remind the community of the dangers of impaired driving and to always have a non-drinking designated driver,” they wrote. “MADD can provide the resources and reasons to never drive impaired, but leadership to end impaired driving must come from within the Kansas City Chiefs Organization from the highest level. A careless and selfish decision by a Chiefs coach to drive impaired undermines that message, as well as the integrity of your organization.”
The details reported leave plenty of questions for which both Reid and the Chiefs must answer. Was he drinking at the team facility? Was he on his phone while driving? According to Fox4 Kansas City, police filed records showing they confiscated Reid’s cellphone, with a search warrant indicating that Young’s mother “was frantic following the crash and couldn’t find her phone,” and that “she pleaded with Reid to call 911.”
We never heard much about it last Sunday, not during a game in which Andy Reid was clearly outcoached. He misused his timeouts, never worse than in the final minutes of the first half, leading almost directly to another Buccaneers touchdown. His team was clearly undisciplined, whistled for a Super Bowl-record 90 penalty yards in the second quarter alone. His offensive game plan never adjusted to the Buccaneers’ defense, leaving poor Patrick Mahomes on the run all night.
Super Bowl distractions are real (Google Barret Robbins, Eugene Robinson, or Stanley Wilson), and absolutely could have been brought up in a respectful manner by Nantz and Romo. A greater message could have been shared, too. But that’s something that can still be done. Your ball, Chiefs.
Tara Sullivan is a Globe columnist. She can be reached at tara.sullivan@globe.com. Follow her @Globe_Tara.