Pats’ Owner Kraft Has A Very Low Threshold For ‘Miracles’

Added on Sep 10, 2010 by Jason Kearney in

NFL

C’mon Boston…you’re making this far too easy. We told you yesterday about Boston coming to grips with the aftermath of Patriots’ QB Tom Brady’s minor car accident. Brady walked away unhurt and not long after signed a contract that made him the highest paid player in NFL history. This is all good–no one wants to see Tom Brady or anyone else hurt in a car accident, and the guy is a franchise player so we have no issue with him getting paid.

Robert Kraft, who owns the Patriots, sort of overreacted to the fact that Brady suffered no injuries in the accident. Kraft called this a *miracle*–not a relief, not something he was ‘thankful’ for, but an actual water into wine, feeding the multitudes level *miracle*. Here’s Kraft’s take on the situation:

“He was saying how the thump he took was not unlike getting hit on the field here. He arched and prepared himself and we’re just lucky with the glass and angles. We have a lot of be thankful for. It was really a miracle.”

Now, we’re as happy as anyone that no one was seriously hurt in the crash but let’s check ourselves a bit here, Bob. It’s not like Tom crashed an F-16 and walked away from the fireball. That would qualify as a miracle. Walking away from a low speed fender bender doesn’t quite meet the ‘miracle’ threshold. Not to get into a theological discussion here, but since Kraft is Jewish he comes from a tradition that has an especially high threshold for something to be ‘miraculous’ such as in this definition which is part of a very interesting entry from the Jewish Encyclopedia explaining the view of miracles in Judaism:

“An event which can not be explained by ordinary natural agencies, and which, therefore, is taken as an act of a higher power.

Miracles are by no means identical with myths. Myths are primitive or pagan personifications (or rather deifications) of the powers, or forms of nature, represented as acting like human beings. Miracles, on the contrary, place all things in nature under the control of a higher power, which uses them as means of working out its holier designs; they are, therefore, essentially monotheistic.”

So even if we’re being completely objective here–a pro athlete with cat-like reaction and motor skills wearing a seat belt survives a 30 MPH car crash in a $100,000 luxury car known for its state of the art engineering. Nope, doesn’t exactly qualify as an event that ‘can’t be explained rationally’. People walk away from crashes like this every day, with less impressive reaction time and in far less formidable pieces of machinery and even without the benefit of a seat belt.

This isn’t to say that Brady being who he is didn’t help prevent injury–with the possible exception of Floyd Mayweather, Jr. there are few people who would be better able to see the situation develop and have the reflexes to react quickly. That whole ‘field vision’ thing. Now, if Brady had crashed the car, laid hands on the vehicle and repaired it to new then walked across the Charles River *that* would be a miracle. Brady’s walking away from the accident is more along the lines of a ‘fortuitous turn of events’.

Kraft went on to suggest that the accident may have spurred the quick resolution to Brady’s contract talks:

“We have a saying that out of bad things good things can happen if managed properly. It put in perspective everything we’re doing. We’re very, very lucky. Patriot Nation is lucky he had his seatbelt on.”

The most interesting thing about the story is that Brady’s car was a loaner reportedly tied to his involvement with a charitable group. Maybe I’m unclear about how ‘charity’ is supposed to work but if I can get a $100k sled for it sign me up. We’ll have more on the car later.