Tedy's Team

FOXBOROUGH -- Patriots LB Tedy Bruschi hosted runners from "Tedy's Team" today at Gillette Stadium. The runners, who are set to conquer the Boston Marathon course later this month, are helping raise awareness and funds for the American Stroke Association.

Bruschi took time to answer questions from reporters, speaking about the cause before addressing a few football questions.

The Q&A:

In 1996, you were a rookie finding your way in the NFL. Now you’re 34 years old, a multiple Super Bowl champion and a top spokesman for stroke awareness. When you think of that progression, what does that mean to you?
“I think I only had one goal at that point of my career – and that was to win championships. Now it’s changed. Now I have two goals. The other goal I have, besides winning championships, is to make a difference. I really didn’t have something I was passionate about in my life back then, where I could help someone or make a difference out in the community somewhere. I think after my stroke it was obvious to me what I needed to do – raise awareness about stroke and its warning signs.”

You are here today with runners from Tedy’s Team, who will be at the Boston Marathon later this month. Can you provide an idea of how the team has grown over the last three years?
“At first, it was trying to scrounge to get numbers for the Boston Marathon. We wanted to have a presence in it. People at the American Stroke Association talked to me about forming Tedy’s Team – a group of runners that really focused on raising awareness about stroke. We had to scramble that first year for [runners], but as the years have gone on, the numbers sort of accumulate. The Boston Athletic Association has been very kind in providing us with more numbers every year, and now our team is up to 50. Not only do they have to raise awareness, but they have to fund-raise for the things we want to do, and also they have to train to run one of the toughest races in the world and that’s a lot of time. I wanted to make it hard, so to be a part of Tedy’s Team isn’t a walk in the park. Every one of the members of my team has a direct correlation with stroke, because I wanted everyone to be able to relate with each other. Relationships are formed, friendships are formed on this team, and it serves as a little bit of bouncing your thoughts about what you went through, or what your mom went through, so I think it’s very therapeutic also.”

Do you have runners that have come back to join the team a second time?
“Yeah, I know a lot of runners who have run twice, and we may have one or two that have run all three. We have this race, which is 26.2 [miles], but we also have the Falmouth Road Race, which is in the fall and is around 7 miles. So, of course, we have a lot more participants in that [laughs]. But we do have a lot of people who stick with the team for years.”

When you go on the field now, does the stroke ever cross your mind?
“No. When I first came back, that first hit, I got up thinking ‘Am I OK?’ That first tackle, that first time there were a couple 300-pound guys on top of me and -- ‘Am I going to get up?’ – sure, you think that. Those are firsts I had to re-live over and over again. But it was part of what I had to go through to make the comeback complete. It was tough, but I think what anyone will tell you when they’re coming back from something, a devastating sort of occurrence in their life, all those things, those firsts again, you’re not sure of. Especially when you have to strap on all that equipment to play football, that’s a little bit different also. I wasn’t just coming back to work at a job behind a desk. It was sort of a hazardous job at that. But it’s something that I had to work through and I felt it was my responsibility to do it.”

Can you provide an idea of what the atmosphere has been like at the offseason program; I believe this is entering the third or fourth week?
“It’s getting going. At first, I think it starts slow. Especially after we ended the year last year it isn’t like ‘OK, we’re here, we’re ready, let’s go.’ Everybody is sort of just trying to get back going again. It was a long season, ending in early February, so the longer the seasons go, the less time you have off. You take it a little bit slow, but now that we’re in the third, getting into the fourth week, guys are really starting to work hard and getting ready to do it again.”

What are your thoughts on Victor Hobson, the new linebacker the team signed? Do you have any background with him?
“I don’t have any background with him. I know he was with the Jets. I don’t know him personally and just met him for the first time today. So I look forward … I’m here all the time also, and it looks like he’s going to be here, so I think him and I are sort of forming a working relationship. We’ll start now.”