You're not going to see anything about this story on ESPN. You're not going to read about it in the pages of Sports Illustrated. You sure as hell won't see anything about it from any other alleged football news sources. I'd almost be willing to guarantee that, too. And the reason for that is simple. . .it's because these places already have pre-formed and pre-conceived notions about Tarvaris Jackson, and they've managed to brainwash a lot of people (particularly fans of Minnesota Viking opponents and/or their rivals) into buying their garbage. Many of them refuse to acknowledge the growth he's shown over the past few games, and a story like this would serve to do nothing more than get in the way of perpetuating the crap that they've been spreading for the last couple of seasons.
Tarvaris Jackson and his girlfriend (I believe. . .the story doesn't detail their relationship or even use her actual name) brought a son into the world 15 months ago, and named him Tarvaris, though pretty much everybody refers to the smaller Tarvaris as T.J. T.J.'s mother has lupus, which is a form of arthritis perpetuated by the body's immune system. According to Sean Jensen's article:
Because T.J.'s mother has lupus, her pregnancy was considered "high risk." Babies born to mothers with lupus sometimes can have a slow heart rate, and T.J. needed a pacemaker implant in May. After T.J. got an infection, the pacemaker was replaced in October.
Then, during a visit at Thanksgiving, T.J. spent a few days at the University of Minnesota Children's Hospital because he got sick.
Holy. Crap.
Now, I'm not a parent myself, so I can't definitively say for sure. . .but for those of you out there that are parents, imagine what sort of things would be in your mind if you took your child in for a doctor's visit and they said, "Yes, your infant needs to have a pacemaker installed." I'm not sure if I'd be able to function at all, let alone go out and function as the starting quarterback for an NFL football team. But T-Jack the elder went ahead and gave it a go anyway, with mixed results (as we all saw).
"It did hinder Tarvaris," Sasanque Jackson said. "Tarvaris is a very private person, and he's the type of person that if something is bothering him, you wouldn't see it.
"I think it had a lot to do with his performance," she said. "It probably wasn't totally that, but it had something to do with it. That's his child. If your child hurts, you're going to hurt."