New Orleans Saints quarterback Drew Brees is coming off a Super Bowl win and spent part of his offseason writing a book. The book is called Coming Back Stronger and it takes readers through Brees’ career from high school to the NFL. In the book, Brees talks about his career-threatening shoulder injury from 2005 and bring us to the present day where he led the Saints to a Super Bowl victory. All in all, it gives the reader a personal insight into the life of not only Drew Brees the superstar athlete, but also Drew Brees the person.
Brees faced a difficult situation when his mother committed suicide in August 2009. In the book, Brees ponders whether he could helped to prevent the death. He devoted an entire chapter to her in hopes that others who have lost someone can gain some insight from his thoughts:
“I felt like it was very appropriate because I feel like so many people deal with that, be it the relationship with a parent or death of a loved one, whatever it might be. I wanted to address it in a way that was very sensitive to my family but also very truthful, hoping that if somebody else has gone through that, or not gotten over it, or is not sure how to handle a situation like that. Maybe this can help.”
Kudos, Mr. Brees. It’s not easy to talk about your feelings to anyone, let alone the entire world. Not only that but talking about something as difficult as the loss of your mother could not have been an easy thing to write about. I already respected Drew Brees as an athlete, and now he has gained even more respect from me for just being a genuinely good person. It’s refreshing to see that some NFL players aren’t just focused on making dumb decisions and that they can use their fame to reach out to people.
Sources:
Brees Opens Up in New Memoir [AP/ESPN]
