Tom Brady tells the story of his first, and last, taste of chewing tobacco
Super Bowl LII is a homecoming of sorts for Tom Brady, who spoke last week about his childhood trips to visit family in Minnesota. He reminisced on that time spent in the tiny town of Browerville- milking cows, fishing in the summer, ice fishing in the winter. Then his cousin cracked that idyllic image, detailing how the Minnesota relatives gave their California cousin a bit of a hard time when he came to visit.
Asked Tuesday about those trips north, Brady shared a story about putting a substance that won’t be found in any TB12 cookbook in his body.
Tom Brady tells a story about his uncles giving him chewing tobacco after fishing in Minnesota and telling him he’s not allowed to spit it out pic.twitter.com/afbPte7Ufi
— Sports Illustrated (@SInow) January 30, 2018
“I’ve had a lot of great memories,” Brady said. “I remember my uncles gave me chewing tobacco for the first time when I was really young. They said, we were fishing- it’s a pretty good story- we were fishing. We went sun fishing.”
“On the way home, I said, ‘I want to try it.’ They said, ‘Look, if we give it to you, then you can’t spit it out until you get home.’ It was like a 30-minute drive back to my grandpa’s farm. So, of course, they give it to me and within five minutes, I’m outside of the car throwing up all over the place. I don’t think I’ve had much chewing tobacco since then.”
Brady’s cousin Paul Johnson confirmed the story to Sports Illustrated’s Jenny Vrentas.
“Those (Brady) kids weren’t afraid of nothing,” Johnson said.
Cousin Paul Johnson confirms! “Those (Brady) kids weren’t afraid of nothing,” he says. https://t.co/1G03RXxwcq
— Jenny Vrentas (@JennyVrentas) January 30, 2018
Despite the less-than-ideal introduction to tobacco, Brady has plenty of positive memories from Browerville.
“We caught a lot of fish,” Brady said. “That was one thing as a kid you can do in Minnesota. You can catch a lot of fish. Some of my greatest memories were being on the lake with my uncles, my grandpa, my parents, my sisters. We had so much fun.”
Brady is back in Minnesota to take on the Philadelphia Eagles in Super Bowl LII on Feb. 4.
