聚光灯下的损失

聚光灯下的损失 A Loss That Puts Things in Focus , Brady's concentration is legendary, but grandmother's death is on his mind now By Sam Farmer, Times Staff Writer JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — Tom Brady spent Thursday with his New England teammates. His heart was 3,000 miles away. Margaret Brady, his grandmother and one of his biggest fans, died the night before, four nights before she had planned to watch him play for his third Super Bowl ring. She was 94 and living in a Bay Area nursing home but still kept in close touch with her family. "She always watched the games," Tom said. "She had Super Bowl parties for the last three years at her nursing home. She was really the talk of the nursing home in those days. She would sit right in front of the TV, and we would always get phone calls from her after the game." Brady was somber but composed when discussing his grandmother, who lived a mile from his boyhood home in Burlingame and was "really, really" close to her grandchildren, who frequently came over to swim. He spoke haltingly about how his father was coping. "He didn't want me to be too concerned with it," the younger Brady said. "He just told me that they would take care of everything there and we would deal with it after the season was over." One of the hallmarks of Brady's career is his ability to sharpen his focus in the playoffs. He has thrown 271 passes in postseason games with only three interceptions, giving him the lowest career interception percentage, 1.11, in NFL history. Behind him on the list are Bart Starr, 1.41; Phil Simms, 2.15; Donovan McNabb, 2.45; and Randall Cunningham, 2.47. "He's always prepared, he's always on top of the game plan," Patriot Coach Bill Belichick said of Brady. "He sees things well on the field. "I don't think the magnitude of the game or the crowd noise or the situation bothers him. He's able to focus on what he has to do, and usually does a pretty good job of it." Brady is 8-0 in playoff games, the second-longest postseason winning streak behind Green Bay's Starr, who won nine in a row. Already, Brady has won two Super Bowls, half as many as his boyhood hero, Joe Montana. "What do you say about him?" Patriot linebacker Ted Johnson said. "He is amazing. He does it with such poise and such calmness, he almost makes it look effortless." That doesn't happen by accident. Brady prepares as thoroughly as anyone in football. "I promise you," offensive coordinator Charlie Weis said, "while everyone else is enjoying Super Bowl week, the last two nights I've been sitting in his room between 10 and 11 o'clock going over the game plan, per his request. That says a lot about him where I get a phone call last night saying, 'Can you come up to my room? I've got a couple of things I want to go over with you.' He's actually getting to the point where his preparation is so good that he's getting to be a pain in the butt." Montana had a similar feel for the game, a similar passion for knowing everything he could know. But he believes the comparisons are overblown. "I don't see anything of myself" in Brady, Montana said. "I think people make comparisons because our paths were similar and we have somewhat of the same disposition. People compare us because we were overlooked in the draft and we have Super Bowl victories. Other than that, I don't think there's that much." That said, Montana agreed it's time to include Brady in the mix when the greatest quarterbacks in NFL history are discussed. And, at 27, he will be the youngest quarterback to start three Super Bowls. "I don't think it's really been a goal of mine or ours to win Super Bowls faster than anybody else," said Brady, who twice has been chosen the Super Bowl's most valuable player. "I think as they present themselves, and as they have this year as this game has presented itself, the goal is really just to continue playing." And this weekend, he'll be playing with a heavy heart. He'll be focused, of course, but his grandmother won't be far from his thoughts. "We're so driven here," he said. "We're so focused … and we get so wrapped up in this part of our life that the other things escape us. It does put a lot of things in perspective when people close to you pass. It's part of the life we live. "Hopefully, I'll live to be 90 years old and live a life as full as she did." 譯文 - 聚光燈下的損失 貝德里擁有不可思異的專注能力 – 但現在他腦中所能想到得只有祖母的離世。 時報記者山姆法墨佛羅里達州節申維爾報導 – 湯姆貝德里星期四花了一整天和他的新英格蘭隊友在一起,但他的心思已飛到三千里外加州的灣區。 湯姆的祖母瑪格麗特貝德里,也是湯姆貝德里最忠誠的球迷,在原打算觀看貝德里第三次爭取超級杯美足賽冠軍戒的前四天晚上逝世。瑪格麗特享年九十四,住在離家不遠的灣區養老院。 「她總是觀看足球賽」湯姆回憶,「過去三年她每年都在養老院舉辦超級杯聚會,那些日子她總是養老院裡人們談論的焦點,她必定坐在電視前面,也一定在球賽後打電話給我們。」 貝德里忍住傷悲平靜的描述他的祖母;小時候的湯姆住在博靈甘,他和家族裡的孫輩和祖母非常非常親近,常常和他們到離家一哩遠的祖母家游泳,貝德里擔心他的父親能否從喪母之痛中恢復。 「父親不要我擔太多心。」貝德里說。「他告訴我他們會照料一切,等球季過完再說。」 貝德里在其職業足球生崖中最令人稱道的特質之一,就是他能在冠軍賽時讓他的專注能力更為集中。他在季後賽裡投了271個傳球,只有三個被中止,是美足國聯史上的最低記錄,1〃11。僅次于他的有巴特史達的1〃14,斐歷星斯的2〃15,當納文麥克納博的2〃45,以及蘭道康靈漢的2〃47。 「貝德里隨時處於備戰狀態,他總是對各種戰略一清二楚。」愛國者隊的教練比爾貝里企克如是說,「他在場上對各種戰況了然於胸。」「不管是比賽的規模、球迷的噪音、或是球賽當時的輸贏狀況都無法影響貝德里,他就是有辦法專注在他必需執行的任務上,而且常常執行的得很好。」 貝德里季後賽的戰績八連勝零負,僅次于綠灣史達的九連勝,而且手上已經有兩個冠軍戒只,是他兒時的偶像,喬蒙他拿手上冠軍戒只數量的一半。 「你要如何描述貝德里才好呢,」愛國者隊的線鋒德強生說:「無法想像得,他總是平靜完美的把任務執行好,而且常常令人覺得他毫不費力就做好了。」 而這些並非全靠運氣,貝德里和其他足球員一樣做足準備。「我可以確定的告訴你;」進攻教練察里衛斯說:「當人人都在享受超級足球盃週時,過去這兩個晚上十點至十一點,,我都應貝德里的要求到他的房間檢討轍略。他打電話給我說: 「你可以到我的房間來嗎,我還有一些事要和你檢討。」他對比賽準備周全的程度,已經到了讓人憎恨的地步。」 蒙他拿對球賽也有此類似的感覺,他也同樣在賽前要求做足他可能做到的準備。但他認為人們誇大了兩人間的相似處。 蒙他拿說:「我沒有在貝德里的身上看我自己。我想人們把貝德里和我比較,是因為我們努力的過程有類似的地方,以及我們一開始都被忽略,但最後卻都拿到超級盃總冠軍。除此之外,我並不覺得我們有那麼多相似的地方。」 然而,蒙他拿也同意日後大家在討論美足史上最偉大的四分衛時,應該把貝德里列入名單;而且是以二十七歲之齡,最早得到第三枚超級盃總冠軍戒只的四分衛。 「我認為我或我的隊友,沒有人刻意想比別人更早得到超級盃總冠軍。」被兩次選為最有價值球員的貝德里說;「我們只是專注在比賽上。」 這個週末,他會帶著一顆沉重的心比賽,當然他也會沉著專注於比賽,只是掛懸著一顆思念祖母的心罷了。 「現在我們處於鎂光燈下,是眾人議論的焦點,在處於萬眾矚目的同時,常人隨手可即的平凡平淡已離我們遠去。當你最親近的人離去時,也是你進一步審思生命意義的時候。而這也是人生必經的過程。」 「希望我能夠活到九十歲,而且活得像祖母一樣的豐富,」貝德里說。