Finding Rhyme, Reason

Tyler Brennan, Taft High linebacker, spent most of last summer sitting around wondering why he was wasting his life.

He read books, he wrote poetry, he prayed every day, “Let me go back to high school for my senior year.”

. . . I thought I was happy

It was because of this demon

Evil was in me

I was greedy

And didn’t follow the Lord

And then I soon realized

Money is nothing

But paper dipped in evil and blood. . . .

While his teammates were sweating and preparing for the season ahead in summer passing competition, Brennan couldn’t join them.

He was locked up in County Jail.

Brennan was arrested in February for a crime he committed in the middle of December, just one week after he played for Taft in the City 4-A championship football game at the Coliseum.

He was sent to Juvenile Hall in Sylmar, then moved to another juvenile facility. For five months he waited for final resolution on his court case. Although only 17 years old, he would be tried as an adult.

What were considered minor violations--stealing candy, smoking marijuana--began to add up.

After pleading guilty, he was sentenced to County Jail in July.

“That was probably the worst experience you can have,” Brennan said this week. “The thing is, I’m glad it happened. I was smoking a lot of weed. I was on the street with all my friends. We’d sit on the street all day and get high and mess around. I thought I could still have football and all the stuff on the side. It was all a lie.”

. . . One other demon made me feel good

It made me feel I could conquer the world

It made me lazy

And separated me from my loved ones

It became my happiness

But it was artificial

I used it so much that as soon as I stopped

I didn’t feel normal

I didn’t feel tops. . . .

In jail, Brennan read the Bible “two or three times.” He read the “Grapes of Wrath” and “Friday Night Lights.” He read books written by Martin Luther King Jr.

“I read more books in there than I’ve read in my entire life,” he said. “I found religion in there, I found knowledge, I found out how many people cared about me.”

When he was released on Aug. 22, after being locked up for seven months, Brennan was grateful.

He went back to playing football. He swore off drugs and alcohol, but he really didn’t have a choice. He would be tested weekly for drugs and asked to check in with his probation officer nightly.

Through it all, his mother stood by him. So did his coach, Troy Starr. Taft’s principal, Ron Berz, and assistant principal, Howard Reisbord, continue to support him.

“As far as I’m concerned, I trust that kid with my own kids,” Reisbord said.

Said Starr: “I can’t speak any more highly of a kid that I’ve coached. He’s really one of my all-time favorites. I really like him, my wife likes him, Mr. Berz likes him, everybody likes him.”

Brennan plays football like few teenagers. The emotion he unleashes and the intensity he exudes makes him a favorite of opposing coaches. There’s also his politeness and sportsmanship that cause referees and even opposing players to offer praise.

“He plays with unbelievable intensity,” Starr said. “I’ve never been complimented more about a player than him.”

Said Brennan: “A lot of people like to talk trash. It’s not worth it. It’s funner to make friends. You talk with your helmet rather than your mouth.”

So how does one explain Brennan the football player and Brennan the teenager away from football?

“To me, the key to life was money,” he said. “Money and fame. As I got locked up, I realized it wasn’t. If you have all the money in the world and you’re in jail, it’s no good. I learned the key to happiness is freedom to do what you want to do.”

Brennan’s closely cropped red hair makes him easy to pick out in a group, but like most teenagers, it’s important for him to fit in.

The main question is, with what type of crowd?

“There’s guys doing the same things I was doing--getting high and not caring and not realizing what you’re throwing away,” he said.

Brennan is learning how effective his mind works without drugs or alcohol.

“I’m so much more clear-headed,” he said. “I have a book in my bag, ‘Strength Through Love’ by Martin Luther King. There’s some stuff in there that’s better than any drug. I can read that and it will be in my head the whole day.”

The real test for Brennan will come when football season ends and he has free time.

Will he make the right choices? Will those who have placed their trust in him be rewarded? Will he really remember the lessons from his summer in purgatory?

“Once you’re in jail, it’s reality,” he said. “And I never want to go back again.”

. . . Both of these evil things were in my life

But they have been replaced by just One

And that just One is greater than all

Soon my life will be fun

But at no cost to others. . . .

“You have to want to change,” Brennan said. “You have to have a goal. My goal is to make my mother proud and make God proud.

“I made a mistake but I know what I did. I want others to not go through the same thing.”

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Eric Sondheimer’s local column appears Wednesday and Sunday. He can be reached at (818) 772-3422.