Tom Brady's loose connection to Larry Nassar revisited in wake of vilified sports doctor's stabbing

Larry Nassar was stabbed in a prison near Tampa, the city where Tom Brady last played in the NFL. But their paths crossed before in a different way, because the disgraced doctor was once a student in Michigan and the quarterback was spending his formative years there playing college football.

In light of the recent incident, it makes sense to revisit the timeline. Larry Nassar graduated from the University of Michigan in 1985 with a degree in kinesiology. During his time there, he worked with the football and track and field teams. He then went on to become a Doctor of Osteopathic Medicine from Michigan State University College of Osteopathic Medicine.

Tom Brady did not cross paths with him at the university as his career at the school took place from 1996 to 1999. However, given the fact that both of them attended the same university, they were both eligible to attend university alumni events.

Hence, while their connection does not exist beyond the fact that they both studied at the same university, it is still instructive to see how their paths have diverged. Both ended up in the Tampa Bay area. One of them retired as the GOAT NFL player and brought the city a Super Bowl. The other committed crimes so heinous that he was stabbed by other inmates in a jail in the region.

Tom Brady yet to comment on Larry Nassar's stabbing but survivors show amazing grace

While Tom Brady has not commented on the treatment meted out in prison to his disgraced fellow alumnus, Larry Nassar's survivors showed amazing humanity. Rachael Denhollander, who was the first gymnast to accuse him of sexual assault, wrote on Twitter:

"None of the women I've spoken with are rejoicing today. We're grieving the destruction across so much. We're grieving the reality that protecting others from him came with the near-certainty we would wake up to this someday... No one's life is a gif for us to mock, even when we are standing against the evil that person has done. It's not the same as justice."

As she so succintly also highlighted in the wider thread:

"The farthest we can run from what Larry became, is to love."

In sports we throw the word hero around a lot. But if one wants to see what real courage looks like, one could do no better than to look at the all the survivors who came forward to ensure that Larry Nassar got the justice he deserved.