Is this believable?

This story of Tom Brady hurting his hand in the days before the big game: is it believable? It is in one sense: maybe it happened exactly as ‘reported’. Or maybe there was a ding and thus a chance for a bit of gamesmanship: Tom whacks his hand and he and the coach think this is a great time to get some precautionary x-rays because that will be reported, and the other team will read that and part of them will think Tom may be hurt. This kind of thing has happened so many times in the past: the boxer who ‘falls’ or ‘slips’ in training, while skipping rope or sparring, and that becomes a bit of a show in which maybe he’ll be unable to fight or he’ll at least be a little bit off. What’s the idea behind this kind of gamesmanship? It’s not enough to say you’re messing with their heads: you are trying to decrease their focus by making them either be over-confident or maybe more determined than ever not to be suckered into thinking you’re hurt. That mouthful means whatever the result, it’s different from their optimal focus, from the most efficient way for them to see and react on the field. It makes them think a bit more than they should be thinking about stuff other than what’s directly in front of them on the field.