Adrian Peterson is determined to remind everyone that he’s the best back in all of football. (Photo Courtesy of minnpost.com)
If you haven’t read Steve Marsh’s piece on Adrian Peterson yet, you need to check it out. While we can’t say we like his reverence and candor about the Packers’ history, (although we know he’s right), the entire article is well done. AP’s return from an ACL injury has been well-documented. Marsh, however, takes a deeper look into what fuels Peterson to be the greatest ever.
In particular, Marsh highlights AP’s devotion to God, love of his family and the devastation he felt when he lost his brother. As Marsh explains, Peterson’s 11-month older half brother was hit by a drunk driver at the age of 8. (Peterson was 7 at the time.) Two days after the accident, the family had to take his brother Brian off life support. Peterson lost his best friend, someone with whom he did absolutely everything.
“My mom cried for a year straight,” Peterson says. “So it was up to me to be there and be tough and to be strong for her. To hold my tears.”
“I could never beat him running or anything,” AP continues speaking about his deceased brother Brian. “I was bigger than him, we had different dads, but athletic-wise I looked up to him. So that’s one thing that I wanted to pattern myself by, to be like my brother. I run for him.”
“It dates back to when I lost my brother when I was 7,” he says. “Different things that I’ve been through, different situations that I’ve been through in my life, praying to God and asking him to give me the strength and the faith and the courage, just whatever it takes to get through the situation. I’ve learned by applying those principles that things work out for me. So I’ve just been staying true to it.”
It’s definitely worth checking out the entire article. Marsh always writes great stuff and is a good Minnesota writer. Grab a coffee or some egg nog, though, because it’s a long one.
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