re: Honey Badger impressed me tonight.

I re-read this article every year, and it gets better every time the more successful he becomes.

This quote (from a now-defunct twitter thread) still gives me chills:

quote:

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I had a long interview with Tyrann Mathieu last winter that resulted in this story. It was the most emotionally draining interview I’ve ever done. At the time, I wished he’d stop talking because what he said was so painful.

Later, I realized it wasn’t that I wished he’d stop talking, but that I wished what he said wasn’t true. He had enough pain for 2 lives. Everybody loves a story about an athlete who has fallen & gotten up. But it was obvious then and evident now that Mathieu was still falling. He desperately wanted someone to trust but was surrounded by people who didn’t deserve to be trusted. He didn’t know how to trust, anyway. I concluded the root of Tyrann Mathieu’s pain is he doesn’t believe anybody loves him unconditionally. Not his mom, not his dad. Nobody. What broke my heart — what made me have to sit there and catch my breath after the interview — is the possibility he was right.

Mathieu was so old by the time he started to call someone mom and dad that he remembers feeling awkward using those words. I wanted to cry. Nobody should remember starting to say mom and dad or wonder if they should call people that or feel like they’re experimenting.

Can you imagine thinking or saying this? “I know if I have a child, I’ll be there for them, no matter what.” That’s Mathieu. What has happened to a kid that he has to say that out loud? It was almost like he had to learn that.

Mathieu on two Mathieus: “There was one who did the right thing, who was loving. There was the one who was out of sync, and didn’t believe in himself.”

I read in SI that Mathieu is going to be a dad. I hope that he sees in that baby’s eyes some measure of what he’s missing.

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Dumb! He could've decided to quickly stick his neck and shoulder into that full head of steam "250+ mass" at the goal line, and taken the risk of having to leave the game....maybe for good! Anyone that questions whether HB avoids making hits doesn't know much about him or finds reasons to not like him. He's overcome more obstacles than most do in an entire lifetime, and he's met many a challenge "head on" - but, to attempt to prevent that TD would have not only been impossible, but downright stupid for trying.