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August 13, 2007

Bruschi talks about new book, new season

Shortly after a season ends, Tedy Bruschi has a heart-to-heart conversation with himself.

In a press conference with the media at Gillette Stadium this afternoon, the Patriots'
veteran linebacker asks himself some serious questions, before deciding whether he will put in another year on the gridiron:

``What I do is just see where I am physically and mentally, first of all. I think physically first because you have these aches and pains after the season . . . . You get older and it takes a little longer for things to heal. So is this injury, is this ache and pain, is it a little more serious than I think it is? Is it getting better two weeks, three weeks down the line? Am I starting to think about the off-season program to get ready to play next year? Watching the Super Bowl, does it irritate me to the point where I want to get working again and get ready to go again?"

Bruschi said he answered, ``yes,'' to all of those questions.

``I started to think about the off-season program. I started to get better quickly. So it was just a point of when does the offseason program begin and continue the process.''

Bruschi says that the strength has returned to his right hand, in which he had suffered a broken bone during last year’s training camp: ``The wrist is feeling a lot better. I’m feeling great out there, and I think I’ve seen improvement with myself from the start of camp, which is what all of us want to see and which coach (Bill Belichick) really preaches, about just getting better every day.’’

In addition to preparing to play this fall, Bruschi spent the past off-season working with Michael Holley to complete his new book, Never Give Up: My Stroke, My Recovery, and My Return to the NFL.

Bruschi says his primary reason for writing the book about the stroke that he suffered in February 2005 is to create more awareness about the cardiovascular disease.

``The big thing with me when I had my stroke is that I didn't realize I was having a stroke when I was going through it at the moment. So I would hope this would open some eyes particularly to people of my age group that it can happen.''

Bruschi says that the process of writing the book, which he adds is also his way of responding to the thousands who sent him letters and e-mails of support during the ordeal, was an emotional one.

``Through writing it, I sort of relived it and (thought) to myself, `Man, that was a lot. Wow. How did I get through all of this,’ ‘’ he said. ``Every time I sat down to write the book or discuss the book with Michael . . . . it’s a very emotional book. I talk about my marriage, how the stroke affected my marriage, my emotions coming back. And reliving every single page was sort of emotionally trying at times. That made it difficult in itself.

``What I learned through the whole process of coming back like that,’’ he continued, ``(is that) as professional athletes we think that we’re such big, strong individuals and confident and mentally tough that we can handle everything ourselves. Sometimes you can’t, and you need the help of people, and there are a lot of people that helped me come back.’’

Posted by Carolyn Thornton  at 4:17 PM | Permalink