Chicago Bulls star Jimmy Butler recently spent time with Bryan Smith, a journalist at Chicago Magazine, giving Smith a rare glimpse into his seldom spoke of personal life.
Smith’s piece, titled It’s Good to be Jimmy Butler, covers everything from Butler’s relentless work ethic, to the extravagant treatment of his entourage, to his unlikely friendship with Mark Wahlberg, to how he pays for the person’s groceries behind him in line at the supermarket. It’s a good read.
One thing that was particularly peculiar was the way in which the 26-year-old Marquette alum used his car as a motivational tactic:
Still, he loathes reliving the past—so much so that he has removed the rearview mirror on his car (yes, really) as a symbolic reminder to never look back. His coach at Marquette University, Buzz Williams, says Butler was so sensitive about his upbringing that he swore Williams to secrecy while playing for him.
Jimmy is referring to his difficult upbringing in which his father left the family when he was a baby and his mom kicked him out of the house when he was 13 years old, citing “I don’t like the look of you.”
If someone in the Bulls organization doesn’t see that Butler reattaches his rear view mirror, that is just a negligent oversight. Can’t be having their $95 million man guessing when switching lanes of the freeway. I’ll go one step further and say that if I were a GM of a professional team, I would hire drivers for all my athletes. Reduce risk. Call this suffocating, but I recently witnessed my team’s tight end get locked up for life because he was just driving around killing people. Fuck you, Aaron Hernandez.
[h/t Bleacher Report]