Of all the people to perfectly articulate Super Bowl logic, Harry Potter was not one I would have bet on. What is Super Bowl logic, you ask? Super Bowl logic is when football fans whose teams are not in the game pick one to root for. Even many of us who sit out the season have the impulse to pick a side and for this we must employ Super Bowl logic. I, a lifelong 49er, am rooting for our arch rivals, The Los Angeles Rams. 1) I live in LA now 2) Their quarterback, Jared Goff, is a fellow Marinite (person who grew up in Marin County, California) and 3) They’re playing Tom Brady and his New England Patriots. It was that third reason that Daniel Radcliffe used while promoting his latest project, Miracle Workers, at Sundance. When asked why he was taking the Rams over the Patriots, Daniel said it was simple – the Pats need to stop winning. And then he (proverbially) snatched Brady’s MAGA hat:
Daniel Radcliffe says he’s rooting for the Rams in the #SuperBowl and has a message for Tom Brady: "Take that MAGA hat out your locker" | #Sundance #VarietyStudio presented by @ATT pic.twitter.com/uGI608bP3b
— Variety (@Variety) January 26, 2019
Variety: Who are you routing for in the Super Bowl:
Daniel Radcliffe: Rams. Because, like, the whole world is routing against the Patriots. Like, sorry.
V: Should Tom Brady retire?
DR: No. But he should stop winning things. Take that MAGA hat outta your locker. I feel like that was the moment when we, as a country, were all, ‘Come on, dude! We all want you… you’re awesome and behind you, don’t put that in there.’
[From Variety via Dlisted]
Being out of the Harry Potter loop, is Daniel ours now? “We, as a country,” is planting a foot in the States, yes? Yay for us. But back to Super Bowl logic – one rule is that any team that is not your team only get to win so many times. After their win quota is met, they become public enemy number one. As a country, to borrow Daniel’s phrase, we lost our collective minds when the Pats triumphed in Super Bowl XXXVI (they beat the St. Louis Rams, btw). Since then, all the spectacular victories and made-for-the-movies comebacks were nothing but annoying to anyone outside of the New England sphere. It isn’t Patriot hate, it’s football 101. I don’t actually mean the terrible insults I hurl at Brady regularly, he’s just not allowed to win anymore… unless he becomes a Niner, then he can win all he wants.
But the MAGA hat falls outside Super Bowl logic, and Daniel’s point hit the nail on the head. When that damnable red hat appeared in frame during Brady’s locker room interview and Brady gave a jovial nod in favor of #45’s candidacy, most of us threw the towel in. It wasn’t even that we didn’t know he was friendly with #45. The comment was one thing but the visible hat was a message. Knowing what we know now, I do think Brady should be held accountable. But I imagine he will now, in part, because even if his wife, Gisele, gave him hell for it before, you know his kids will after they catch wind of this: “Dad! You pissed off Harry Potter? MAKE IT RIGHT!”
As a footnote. Both Bay Area bred QBs, Brady and Goff, idolized the same football hero growing up: San Francisco 49er quarterback Joe Montana. So, using Super Bowl logic, no matter who wins on Sunday, I’m still counting it as a Niner victory.
Photo credit: Twitter, Getty Images and WENN Photos
If Harry Potter can’t convince you to get rid of your stupid hat, what hope is there? 🧙♂️
Don’t forget that a Sean McVay’s grandfather was VP/Director of Football Operations in the 49ers Seifert era with Joe and Steve Young. I’m a Rams fan (especially since they came home) but have ALWAYS had a thing for the Niners. GO BIG RAMS!,
I always liked the Niners too, especially during the Steve Young era.
Nah. Tom Brady is a cheater and I’ve always hated him. The MAGA hat was just icing on the cake and confirmation of what an utter d-bag he truly is. I don’t like football or the NFL. I don’t support it as a sport for various reasons (their willful disregard of CTEs, their racism, their protecting of abusers, etc). But everytime the Patriots lose anything it makes me happy.
Out of the 32 NFL teams, the Patriots are only #16 on the list of cheating, the Broncos are #1. Brady didn’t have his own disgusting MAGA hat, they were for some reason left for the entire team in the locker room. Brady didn’t even say who he voted for, and his wife sure did say neither of them were supporting Trump.
That hat was disposed of long ago. Trump sent the entire team a case of the stupid hats and they were placed in every “locker” Lagarette Blount and Devin McCourty had them too and they’re both outspoken against Trump. None of the hats were ever seen after that one time on the day they were delivered. Brady has NEVER endorsed a candidate for any office: not Kerry, who he bikes with; not Romney, who tried hard to get his support; not Trump. He has always said there are people who know a lot more on political issues than he does and you shouldn’t vote for someone based on what an athlete thinks. He’s a lot closer to the Kennedy-Shrivers than he is to any Trump. And Gisele made it clear Trump was not supported in her home.
I get many of the other reasons to want another team to win but the stupid hat isn’t one of them. The hat in the locker was Trump’s act, not Brady’s.
He has repeatedly said they’re friends though, and when pressed on it, just says “I’m only here to talk about football” and that he doesn’t pay attention to politics (how nice for him). Yet kept the hat in his locker rather than remove it _ EDIT – according to Lightpurple it’s gone. GOOD.
Gisele has made it clear she’s anti-Trump, and I assume she’s educated him on why. Hopefully he’s smarter about it now.
“left” in the locker room. and yet he put his on display so the news crews who were interviewing him could get a shot of it. He didn’t hide it, or toss it in the garbage (that day). it’s since been removed, after he caught so much sh*t for it.
but he’s also said that 45 is a “good friend” and it would be “great” if he got elected.
and let’s not forget that Kraft and 45 are bros, and Belichick provided a written endorsement of 45 for president.
even if Brady has denounced 45 (which he hasn’t, to my knowledge, only 45’s stance on people kneeling), Kraft and Belichick haven’t. so, f ’em.
ETA: yes, as lucy2 pointed out, he “doesn’t pay attention to politics”…but, as one of the top players of all time, he COULD have quite an influence on it. he chooses not to, which some might consider admirable. I say it makes him privileged. it’s either that or he doesn’t want to say anything because he’d get more sh*t for it.
Just putting this back in here – Ace Davis. the 10-year-old child prodigy whose science fair project proved that Tom Brady is a cheater –
http://www.pajiba.com/celebrities_are_better_than_you/boy-genius-wins-science-fair-by-proving-tom-brady-is-a-cheater.php
Here is one that proves otherwise:
https://nesn.com/2019/01/fifth-grader-wins-science-fair-by-proving-tom-bradys-deflategate-innocence/
eh, neither of these kids proved anything beyond the veracity of the Ideal Gas Law.
they both basically proved that yes, balls lose air in cold weather.
I feel sorry for that boy. You can see his father hates Brady. I can’t believe he thinks his CHILD should hate Brady. He is a CHILD. That child didn’t prove anything. He is just a hater.
Studies have shown that reading Harry Potter makes people kinder and more open-minded so I’m not entirely certain that the MAGAts will let loose with a collective wail and some teeth gnashing from shame over this. How many of them would be HP fans, given the themes of the overall series regarding issues of inclusion, friendship, and so forth?
However, they do love to feel persecuted so it may be that they take this as an insult from a popular actor, in which case they will wail and gnash their teeth over how picked on they are, and how hard life is when you’re white and a supporter of Orange Voldemort.
I say, “Thanks, Harry! I’m sure that Hermione agrees with you 100%!”
https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/reading-harry-potter-might-make-you-better-person-180955196/
I just have to share this story. My boyfriend and I are both Mexican, and our family went to Wizarding World of Harry Potter for a vacation (Orlando, FL). We’re in one of the Diagon Alley shops, and two women (one older, one younger) are in the same area as my boyfriend. One is swinging her beer around as they look at sweaters, and she bumps into my boyfriend, causing it to spill all over. One of the clerks is very sweet and comes over to help clean up, while the women look expectantly at my boyfriend as if he should apologize (the beer also spilled on him). Walking away, the older woman looks back and says loudly, “That’s what happened when you let….” Would it stand up in court that what came next was probably bigoted? No, but I’m not dumb and saw how they looked at him and what their tone was. They also had on Griffendore robes. So, long story short, many MAGAs are too dumb to understand that one major Harry Potter theme is against bigotry. And who drinks beer and not butterbeer???
I would root for anything playing against the Patriots. A meteor from space, the most vile team ever, doesn’t matter–my hatred of the Patriots knows no bounds.
So go Rams. KILL ‘EM!
You said it @Anastasia you said it.
Is Daniel still friends with racists? He said “I dont think friendship should be drawn along those lines”
Thank you! I was just thinking about that dumb interview.
Do people forget that Brady blew off the White House the last time they won the Super Bowl? Did they listen to Tom about his feelings about teammates kneeling during the National Anthem?
I love Daniel but he is a few years too late with this “controversy.”
I lost all respect for Tom Brady when he said some ignorant sh*t about not knowing or caring what was going on in the world/country. I can’t remember the exact quote but it was when the traitor in chief was already president. That plus the “but he’s my friend” bs he pulls whenever Trump was brought up to him just made me despise him. I feel sorry for Gisele.
I’m always entertained at fans who want to defend Brady’s display of that hat. Like, it’s really so shocking to buy that a rich white man supports another rich white man making a mess of the country because it doesn’t really affect him? Don’t mistake an attempt to protect his brand as legitimate remorse. We all answer for the choices we make, particularly if our platform is as large as his.
I am curious about the animosity phenomenon directed at Brady and the Patriots. The Steelers have been equally successful in Superbowl numbers and don’t generate half as much vocal disdain. I wonder what it is about them that ruffles people’s feathers so much. (I mean, I think Brady and his wife are uneducated, narcissistic morons, but they’re talented at what they do, no getting around that.)
The Steelers were hated during their time. They aren’t as dominant now so they don’t get the animosity directed at them. Back in the days of Terry Bradshaw, it was. What gets me is that the Steelers QB has a history of assaulting women
yup, Roethlisberger, or “Rapistberger”, as I call him, can go scratch, too.
used to love Petyon Manning, but he still golfs with 45, so F him, too.
Yeah, Roethlisberger is trash. No argument there. I grew up in Pittsburgh, and I stopped supporting the team once they decided to stick with him after the news came out. Why anyone would waste their time and energy defending rich football players who behave like the scum of humanity is beyond me. I think Brady is grossly privileged, but he’s at least got a clean record behind him in terms of how he treats other human beings one on one.
I don’t follow the NFL closely but I’ll watch a game here and there with my husband. I don’t cheer for any particular team, but I always cheer for the Pats to lose. Mr. Keller always chuckles at my “irrational” hatred for Tom Brady. I’m sure most of you here would agree with me that there is nothing irrational about it.
go niners!
“We as a country”?? You’re British, dude! Funny how he has nothing to say about the mess in his own backyard!
Last time I was in SF Joe Montana was just strolling down the street and people noticed and started freaking out like it was still the 80s. We still love Joe. Go Niners!
The Iggles beat the Patriots last year, it CAN be done (and I hope they lose again this year)
yup, and Giants beat ’em twice. it can be done.
It’s “rooting” not routing. Ugh. And I hope that Brady loses.