The Elephant in the Locker Room - Tom Brady's faith in Hindu god

Brady celebrates his fifth ring

Sometimes sport achieves things which are out of bounds for the normally ordained that even the most hardened fan is brought to shake off his cynicism and attribute it to divine forces. The biggest flutter ‘God’ created in sport, in recent years, however, was not on the field of play, but in the locker room after a match.

This divine intervention was in the middle of an interview in 2015 with Tom Brady, New England Patriots quarterback, considered to be the greatest to have ever walked an American football field.

A record fourth Superbowl victory achieved with a win against the Seattle Seahawks, Brady’s performance in the 2015 season-ender was deservedly spoken about for days. After all, at 37 years of age, Brady had re-established his position as the biggest ever name in the NFL, where the average career lasts 3.2 years, and was stretching the limits of the sport itself. 

As he threw open his locker room door about two hours after the victory, tired and delirious, USA Today reported that he let the contents of it speak for him. There were a few handwritten notes, a family photograph and a four-inch bronze statue of Ganesh. The article on Brady from the 2015 Superbowl is dedicated mostly to figuring out the role of Ganesh, the ‘remover of obstacles’, in the Hindu pantheon of gods and in Brady’s life.

Like the USA Today article, there were many fans who were eager to read into the Ganesh motif as being responsible for ending Brady’s decade-long Superbowl title drought, and his recovery from the Deflategate controversy, which had led to a besmirching of his name and a four-match suspension at the beginning of the latest season.

The Patriots’ win and all subsequent glories in Brady’s life may be seen as a validation for Hinduism by some, but a look at Brady’s spiritual outlook suggests something else. He was born and brought up in a Catholic household, and his father almost became a priest.

The house he currently shares with supermodel wife Gisele Bundchen has Bibles as well as Jewish menorahs lying around. Perhaps because of his Catholic upbringing, Brady values religious items, but there is space for multiple faiths in his spirituality. He had said in a New York Times interview, “I think we’re into everything. I don’t know what I believe. I think there’s a belief system, I’m just not sure what it is.”

Why Brady would choose a Ganesh statue is also easily assumed, and it is not the same reason why Indian households of the Hindu faith have a picture of Ganesh on every second wall. Ganesh is one of the most easily recognisable Eastern Gods in the West, and is on par with Buddha as a spiritual pop icon worldwide.

In an article in The Hindu, which tries to find out why Ganesh’s popularity has soared with designers and artists in recent years, a popular illustrator said, “Ganesh is the epitome of a cute god. He is friendly with a sweet tooth. Also, he brings luck and removes obstacles with his axe, which is always a good thing!”

In the American TV series Supernatural, which fictionalises Judeo-Christian gods, there is one episode where Hinduism is given representation, through Ganesh and Kali. In this episode, Ganesh is played by a pot-bellied black man.

The biggest agency given to Ganesh’s character is to double up as the comic character of the group of Gods; his ineffectual presence is ended when he was killed in a one-sided battle with Lucifer. This episode is a testament to Ganesh’s recognisability but is sobering proof of how the god is viewed in the USA. 

Brady has himself never commented on the Ganesh statue or his faith in Hinduism, simply saying ‘No Ganesha’ when asked about it. His attitude towards the current President of the USA, Donald Trump, is the same.

While campaigning, Trump stressed on the fact that Brady was his friend, saying to crowds, “I have Tom Brady on my side. And she (Hilary Clinton) doesn’t.” Brady responded by simply stating that he has a right to remain well away from politics. 

Someday, if the NFL legend decides to comment on the ‘elephant in his locker room’, the response will probably be similarly concise.