Tyrann Mathieu
Has a professional athlete ever enjoyed a more apt nickname than Tyrann “Honey Badger” Mathieu? The Arizona Cardinals defensive back is tenacious, with a nonstop motor that led to a team-leading five interceptions last year, but lovable, with an endearing manner and knack for sticky sound bites that made him a fan favorite upon joining the team in 2013. A breakout Pro Bowl season in 2015 has landed the 24-year-old on the cusp of superstardom. Now if he could just keep those million-dollar knees intact.
Last season, en route to his first Pro Bowl selection, Mathieu tore his right ACL in week 14 – his second such injury in two years. Will he be ready for the September 11 opener?
That’s the idea. That’s why I go to rehab every day. But I don’t want to be the guy who’s on the field and not 100 percent. That would be doing the team a disservice… On the bright side: This [injury] was actually better than the last one in a sense. I didn’t have any lateral damage. It was just the ACL. So I pretty much hit the ground running from a rehab standpoint.
What’s his favorite restaurant in the Valley?
At first, it was Fleming’s. It was everything when I first got here. But as I got older and started hanging with Larry Fitzgerald and other such gentlemen… it’s been [Mastro’s] City Hall. Steak 44 is great, too.
Mathieu’s childhood home, Louisiana, had an agonizing summer. If he had a message for the people there, what would it be?
I’ve thought about this for a long time. People have to come together… put their differences aside and love each other. I just hope that situation improves… I want [citizens] to feel protected and police to feel protected, too. Everybody needs to put their hand in the pile and hopefully it will work out.
So has he made peace with the “Honey Badger”? Before joining the Cardinals from LSU, he disavowed it.
Yeah, I’m fine with it. At the time, I wanted to separate the two for a while: the “Tyrann Mathieu” and the “Honey Badger.” I wanted people to get to know me, Tyrann. But now that things have taken off… and knowing what [the name] means to people, it seems pretty stupid I wanted to lose it.
Mathieu has spoken candidly about his marijuana use in college, which cut short his playing career at LSU. To that end: What does he think of Arizona’s consumer marijuana initiative? Would he like to see pot legalized?
In my mind: It’s clear that some people need it. Medically. Or think they need it. And some people take advantage of it. So with anything you do, there’s gonna be good and bad. [Marijuana] helps some people, but on the flip end, you have to recognize some people will abuse it. And it will be more accessible to kids. I started at 12. That’s crazy. If you legalize it, you will make it more accessible, and that’s just something we need to factor.
Mathieu went viral last summer by locking himself in a hot car and recording his discomfort as part of a public-awareness campaign for PETA about the dangers of leaving pets unattended in motor vehicles. A lifelong animal lover, he currently owns three pets:
1) A Yorkie named King.
2) A bearded dragon named Alpo. “Like the dog food.”
3) Another, unnamed bearded dragon. “I’m torn between [the names] Storm and Honey –because I have two sons, but if I’d had a girl, I wanted to name her Honey… like my nickname.”
In 2015, Mathieu set a career high in tackles (80). Speaking of tackles: Who are the three hardest receivers to bring down in the NFL?
1) Julio Jones
(Atlanta Falcons)
“Powerful and strong.”
2) Golden Tate
(Detroit Lions)
“He’s shifty. Dangerous after the catch.”
3) Antonio Brown
(Pittsburgh Steelers)
“Thankfully, I didn’t have to cover him much [last season]. He was Patrick [Peterson]’s assignment.”
O'PINION
Five Deadly (Legislative) Sins
Local control? Only when Big Brother approves! Phoenix and Tempe ban puppy mills. Bisbee bans plastic bags. Flagstaff citizens explore a minimum wage initiative and Tempe and Tucson look into mandatory minimum sick leave. And what happens? The Arizona Legislature shoots them down. Yes, these are the same folks who scream bloody murder about federal mandates, arguing that “decisions are best made by government that is closest to the people.” Unless, apparently, such decisions run afoul of their policy preferences. So let’s study where those preferences have led us.
Mass Incarceration. The U.S. has the second highest incarceration rate in the world – of 223 countries, only tiny Seychelles is higher – and Arizona is the 7th highest incarcerator in the U.S. Lawmakers have locked us into this predicament by issuing multi-year contracts to private prison companies with guaranteed per-bed payments. So if a future legislature should decide that mass incarceration is a wasteful budget-buster, we’d still be on the hook for housing nonexistent prisoners. Wonder if campaign contributions have anything to do with this? See below: Good luck following the money trail.
Protection of “Dark Money.” Numerous polls have shown a public increasingly “getting” the invidious nature of dark money. Two separate citizen initiatives to open up the process were quashed by heavy-handed means. Instead, SB1516 – passed this spring – virtually eliminated the few remaining disclosure requirements. Run expenses through a third-party committee and no one will ever find out who is funding your campaign.
Court Packing. We just increased the number of Arizona Supreme Court justices from five to seven. Why? Even the Chief Justice said there was no need. The sole purpose was to pack the court with ideological cronies of Governor Doug Ducey. And this court was already Republican-dominated: Four of the five justices were appointed by Republican governors. FDR tried to pack the U.S. Supreme Court in the 1930s; the public was outraged. Packing the court violates the checks-and-balances principle. Republicans already dominate the legislative and executive branches. Trifecta!
Undermining Public Education. Arizona funds education at one of the lowest rates in the country. With the onset of the Great Recession, the Legislature took a meat axe to education. A lawsuit was filed; it won at every level. When the economy improved, and the public grew increasingly concerned, the governor brokered a compromise: Proposition 123, which raided the state land trust to pay for education dollars that should have already been available with a surplus budget. Baffling.
Tax Cuts Uber Alles. The main objective of the above scheme seemed to be to do the minimum necessary to placate parents while preserving a continuing stream of tax cuts. Cutting taxes always sounds good. But have you personally felt any of those cuts? I’ll bet the only folks who’ve genuinely felt the cuts are teachers, students and parents. Sins of the fathers, indeed.
Mike O’Neil is a sociologist and pollster who hosts the public affairs program The Think Tank, on KTAR-FM 92.3.
FROM THE HIP
“Hiking between otherworldly volcanic towers above the lush high desert of Oak Flat left a stunning first impression on me. When my friends and I found out that Arizona lawmakers had reversed the protection of this land to sell it to a mining company that will destroy it, we were crushed. When you experience a place like this, you feel a primal instinct to protect it. Losing the Oak Flat area would not only account for the largest loss of established rock climbing routes in U.S. history, but also the desecration of sacred Apache land and a rare ecological habitat. For rock climbers and nature lovers like us, we hope to save Oak Flat and climb on. ”
-Madison Kirkman
Professional photographer on the oak Creek controversy. She shot Matt Jasensky climbing in Superior on February 28, 2016.
CALLING ALL PHOTOGRAPHERS!
Do you have a newsworthy photo or a shot that tells an interesting Arizona story? Submit your photo and the story behind it at phxmag@citieswestpub.com for a chance to be featured on this page.
