Tua and the Marriage/Privacy Debate (Plus Other Topics)
Tua Tagovailoa's weekly media session covered quite a bit of ground Wednesday, starting with his recent marriage and moving to his musical choices at practice and the Miami Dolphins' tampering with Tom Brady.
Let's dive into the most pertinent topics discussed, starting with his marriage.
TUA AND THE 'ALMOST DISRESPECTFUL' COMMENT
The very first question of Tua's media session was about his marriage, which became public knowledge Tuesday afternoon via a tweet from South Florida radio talk show host Andy Slater.
After being congratulated, Tagovailoa made clear he didn't appreciate the news coming out.
"Yeah, it was very special," Tua said. "I don’t know who ended up leaking it but you must have been waiting outside the courthouse for an entire week or something. For me, I love to keep my life as private as possible and that’s what we try to do with me, my wife and my family. But obviously in this world, that’s not how it is. It’s almost kind of disrespectful, if you will, by doing that. But it is what it is. I can’t do anything about it. Guys, I have a wife.”
Well, first off, marriages end up in county public records, so nobody had to wait outside the courthouse to get that information.
That aside, does Tua have a right to be upset that this part of his private life became public?
The initial reaction from here is to say that, yes, Tua absolutely has the right to decide what details of his life he wants to share.
After all, there's a reason he didn't post anything about his marriage on social media, which should have been the first indication it wasn't something he didn't care to share with fans or the media.
By contrast, teammates Mike Gesicki and Brandon Jones wanted to share wedding photos for all to see, and that also was their prerogative.
Nobody forced (we assume) Gesicki and Jones to post wedding pictures on social media, and they did so by choice.
Likewise, Tua chose not to publicize his wedding.
And the bottom line here is that a player's personal life is inconsequential if it doesn't interfere with his performance on the field, and it should be nobody's business if a player wants to keep it that way.
The argument about a public figure needing to accept that it's part of the gig doesn't fly here, particularly in 2022 with the way some folks behave on social media.
Now, there are two points that can be made in the other direction.
First off, Tua easily could have provided a simple and quick answer and that would have been the end of it. But he clearly wanted to make a point.
Second, one could argue that Tua shouldn't be talking about keeping his family life private after the "Tua" documentary that came out in 2020 and after he posted on social media a video of himself giving his mother an SUV on Mother's Day of that same year.
But that was more than two years ago and Tua has a right to change his mind about how much and what he wants to share about his private life.
Bottom line: A player's private business is nobody's business if it has nothing to do with the team or his performance.
TUA AND THE BRADY TAMPERING
The big news involving the Dolphins this week, of course, was the findings of the NFL investigation into allegations of tanking and tampering, and the conclusion the Dolphins did tamper with Tom Brady in both 2019 and 2021.
That, combined with the Dolphins' very public interest in Deshaun Watson in 2020, certainly doesn't scream a lot of confidence from the organization in the quarterback in place.
The Dolphins have been very vocal in their support of Tagovailoa since Mike McDaniel was hired as head coach, but it's clearly a touchy subject because past actions by the organization certainly spoke loudly.
Asked about whether he'd had conversations with either McDaniel, GM Chris Grier or owner Stephen Ross regarding his standing with the team, Tua asked whether the Brady tampering was in 2019.
After being told it was 2019 and 2021, Tua replied: “OK. I remember I came in 2020, so whatever happened in 2019, I can’t even speak on that. I was here in 2020 and I’m still here and I’m blessed to be here. If it has to do with support from the team, I think the team is all in with me and all of the guys that we have now.”
As mentioned before, this is a tough situation for Tua because it's obvious the Dolphins had an eye on a replacement following his rookie season.
It's understandable that Tua wants no part of commenting on the Dolphins tampering with Brady after he joined the team, but it would have been easy for him to just start his answer here with, "I'm still here and I'm blessed to be here."
But, yeah, this is kind of an awkward time for Tua.
TUA AND THE BALANCE BETWEEN HUMILITY AND CONFIDENCE
On his appearance on Tyreek Hill's podcast, Tua talked about how his perception of staying humble has evolved and how you can be humble and feel confident at the same time.
“I would say I’ve always had that," Tua said. "The only thing is I’ve never shared it. I’ve always had it inside. I’d be humble but at the same time, in my mind, you wouldn’t know that I’m out there to still do what I want to do. Compete, obviously, throw a lot of touchdowns and a lot of other things. But yeah, being a little more vocal with it has been something that I just started.
“I wouldn’t say that I’m trying to project it more but I just don’t want people to get the misconception that being humble is being the nice guy all of the time because that’s not necessarily what it is, to me at least.”
TUA AND DEALING WITH CRITICISM
One interesting question in the media session dealt with how frustrating it is for him to show up to practice every day and have some folks criticizing his deep passes or his accuracy.
We'd take issue with the premise of the question because few have questioned Tua's accuracy and the issue of the deep passes is ridiculous — as we've addressed many times before — but his answer was interesting nonetheless.
"I would say it’s not frustrating," he said. "I would say the only thing that gets frustrating is if you hear it every day or if you see it every day. For me, I eliminate all of that. Don’t hear it. Don’t see it. I go home, go to my family, study, wake up the next day, come back and enjoy football.
"I hear everything obviously from the media and then when (the communications staff) preps me for whatever you guys are going to say, then I’m like ‘Ah, I’ve got to answer this. Alright, let me figure out something politically correct to say.’”
Tua most definitely didn't say the politically correct thing in his answer to the marriage question, but again it's not like he was out of line there.
