Brady dodges Guerrero questions once more

To Tom Brady’s credit, he has made it perfectly clear. The first rule about Alex Guerrero? You do not talk about Alex Guerrero. The second rule about Alex Guerrero? You do not ... yeah, you get the picture.

Brady has an appetite for many things, among them vegan food, calling people “babe” and apparently playing in the NFL until an age when most people are sipping hot chocolate and wearing slippers.

What this preseason has reminded us, is he has no interest in discussing the personal coach/nutritional guru/ controversial businessman whom he credits with making his remarkable football longevity possible.

On Monday, Brady cut short another interview because the questioner dared to utter the “G-word.” Having already stomped out of a news briefing at the end of July when quizzed about Guerrero, the 41-year-old Patriots star hung up the phone during his weekly radio segment on Boston station WEEI, following questions from host Kirk Minihane.

And, with that, Brady guaranteed that not only will he continue to be asked about Guerrero, but that more and more people will want to hear about it. Because when the most unflappable quarterback in history, cool-headed enough to wear a handful of championship rings and just plain cool enough to marry a supermodel, loses it over one particular subject, it gets people wondering if they should take an interest in this too.

The exchange went as follows:

Minihane: We saw the reports this weekend that Alex was on the team plane, which he wasn’t for the second half of last year, I guess, and not on the sideline. Is that accurate?

Brady: Yeah, he was with me this last week, so it was; yeah.

Minihane: What changed with him not being on the team plane last year and this year? Was that just communication back and forth? Was that understanding of other things? What led to that being able to happen this year?

Brady: You know, I don’t want to; I’m not getting into all that.

Minihane: OK, when I ran into him at the Super Bowl last year in Minneapolis, I remember talking about it at the time. When I talked to him there, he had said, in his opinion, all this stuff had been overblown, that he and (Bill) Belichick had a pretty good relationship, even then. Would you say that was true?

Brady: I said I don’t want to get into it.

Minihane: OK, go ahead, (co-host)

Evan (Drellich).

Brady: Yeah. Everyone knows, it’s well documented the work he and I do together.

Minihane: No, I understand that. I’m just trying to figure out because I saw the reports this weekend that he was traveling with the team. Was he on the sideline Friday?

Brady: Yeah, all right guys, have a great day. I’ll talk to you later.

And just like that, this thing is getting warmed up faster than a TB12 Method organic chickpea curry.

On its merits, the Guerrero situation is a fascinating one for a number of reasons. Brady believes in Guerrero’s methods so deeply that his friend and business partner has an office at Gillette Stadium, and, after a break last season, privileges that extend to a seat on the team plane for games.

It is intriguing because if Brady is prepared to go to such lengths, what is it that Guerrero does for him? Conventional wisdom suggests it is Brady’s razor-sharp mind and indefatigable work ethic that has and continues to make him special. But do Guerrero’s electrolyte theories and other pearls of physiological wisdom hold the key to the fountain of youth?

Despite all that, the juiciest part is the conundrum of why the mere mention of Guerrero apparently touches a nerve with Brady.

But there is a simple solution to this. This isn’t Fight Club. Brady could talk about Guerrero if he wanted to and thereby put the matter to rest, at least for the most part.

Every elite quarterback has spoken to the news media since high school, and dodging thorny questions is a veritable rite of passage. Why not come out with a stock statement that Guerrero is a good guy whom he trusts and leave it at that?

The season is fast approaching and maybe he will see sense soon, opening up just enough to put the Guerrero thing to bed. If he does so, the overwhelming narrative surrounding him and the Patriots would likely be about his position among football’s eternally great quarterbacks. If he’s not the best ever, he’s certainly at the heart of the conversation.

But when it comes to Tom Brady and conversation, unless it’s a one-sided one, things get a little complex.

JIM DEDMON/USA TODAY SPORTS The Patriots’ Tom Brady doesn’t talk much about Alex Guerrero, his personal coach and nutritional guru.