Tom Brady Skipping Patriots Super Bowl Visit to White House

The list of Patriots not attending the traditional White House sports championship celebration visit just got longer: Tom Brady announced this morning he will not be making the trip today. Several current and former players from that Super Bowl LI team previously announced they would not go to the White House, including Chris Long, LeGarrette Blount, Devin McCourty, and Martellus Bennett, in large part because they did not want to interact with President Donald Trump.

Brady has been besieged by questions both before and after the Super Bowl about his relationship to the president. Last year, Brady had one of Trump's trademark Make America Great Again hats in his locker. He also said he was happy Trump "experienced success" on election night. As more and more players announced they were not going to attend a possible visit, Brady said "if people don't want to go they don't want to go and that's their choice." Now Brady has made his choice.

Tom Brady is not attending White House ceremony today due to "personal family matters." His statement: pic.twitter.com/OIidVZX3VV
— Mike Reiss (@MikeReiss) April 19, 2017

As Trump's presidential campaign morphed into a presidential administration, Brady has attempted to downplay his relationship to Trump and to distance himself from politics altogether. This would be his most high profile attempt at ducking questions about the president, but there is another factor at play here that makes more sense. As we learned during the week leading up to the Super Bowl, Brady's mother, Galynn, was ill, and after the Patriots' dramatic win it was revealed she was battling cancer for most of season. Brady wasn't even sure if she would be able to make the trip to Houston for the game, but doctors gave her the last-minute OK to travel.

In the aftermath of the win, Brady opened up about his mom, saying her "prognosis is good" but "she's not quite through it." She is reportedly battling an illness again, and Brady opted to skip the trip.

Tom Brady fully intended to visit the White House with the Patriots today but can't due to a personal family reason that just occurred.
— Jeff Howe (@jeffphowe) April 19, 2017

Tom Brady's mother is in town and he is spending time with her. She's been dealing with an illness.
— Jeff Howe (@jeffphowe) April 19, 2017

According to the Boston Herald, today is the Patriots off day from New England's offseason program, so he may be trying to "maximize time with his mother."