Father and son

No, I didn't talk to the Bradleys recently before writing my piece on them. It's really an opinion column on the situation.

I've talked to Bob about it before, though. He's pretty adamant that he and Michael can deal with any difficulties, and he has a track record to point to of how they've both performed under that pressure before.

It's tricky for the media, I'll admit, and not just for Jeff Bradley, Bob's brother, who covers soccer.

It's a bit too rare and wonderful to have a father and son so closely intertwined at the top level of a sport, especially one where so much is based on preference and perception. I'll admit that I wonder if we as reporters don't look at Michael more critically than if his last name was different.

I've observed a similar phenomenon with Freddy Adu, for example. Because of his hype, many reporters would judge him skeptically.

I remember specifically sitting in the press box watching a match and Freddy pulled a sweet dribble move just as a reporter who was a non-regular passed by.

"Wow," he enthused. "Amazing! Who was that?"

"Freddy Adu," I said.

He shrugged, peered at Freddy over his glasses and his excitement drained away. "It wasn't that good, really."