Tom Brady retires
- Thread starter bankshot1
- Start date
I think when people say "love you," instead of "I love you," they don't mean it as much.
My conclusion from this is that Tom Brady doesn't actually love me.
My conclusion from this is that Tom Brady doesn't actually love me.
I mean, was Lewis playing on a broken ankle? How the hell do you not at least sandwich him between the two lumbering oafs?
Oh, and Thanks, Tom. Fucking legend.
And the foreshadowing of Burkhardt at 1B and Hatteberg at DH ... because playing first is too hard
This is a good way to put it. He gave Tampa the appropriate goodbye. Now watch him pour it on for the Pats.
If after the last Rams SB, someone told us that Brady was going to leave the Pats, play two seasons with an NFC team and win another ring, without a complete shitstorm of a breakup or him falling off of Max Kellerman’s cliff, we’d all have taken that, right?
Notwithstanding some of the ambiguity these last few seasons and the somewhat indelible image of Brady stumbling around that boat with the Lombardi last year—and even putting aside the fact that Mac looks ready to take over—this feels like things ended a lot better than we’d been fearing for probably more than a decade.
Notwithstanding some of the ambiguity these last few seasons and the somewhat indelible image of Brady stumbling around that boat with the Lombardi last year—and even putting aside the fact that Mac looks ready to take over—this feels like things ended a lot better than we’d been fearing for probably more than a decade.
I would say that I have zero complaints about Tom Brady. And unlike many of you lightweights, I am an excellent complainer, especially regarding sports.
The most disturbing thing in this thread is Trot Nixon in CF batting 3rd and Brian Daubach playing LF batting cleanup.
Hope that game wasn’t at home. Lots of outfield to patrol for those 2.
Hope that game wasn’t at home. Lots of outfield to patrol for those 2.
I do think for some old timers maybe a real acknowledgment would be appreciated. Having lunch now at a restaurant owned by an elderly couple and they’re both going off about how crazy it is he didn’t acknowledge New England fans haha…
To some people, it means a lot, especially in New England where pro sports are king and fans are ruthlessly and tirelessly invested.
With that said I’m an elder millennial and ghosting is a fact of life for us, so no hard feelings either way TB12
To some people, it means a lot, especially in New England where pro sports are king and fans are ruthlessly and tirelessly invested.
With that said I’m an elder millennial and ghosting is a fact of life for us, so no hard feelings either way TB12
Apparently, local shitty pop radio station Mix 104.1 (RIP 'BCN) just quoted "Simon Charles" as saying that Tom will be at Patriot Place tomorrow morning to sign a one day contract. I immediately called bullshit. A quick glance at "his" twitter feed seems to confirm that bullshit is the most likely explanation.
Yeah, this has been debunked.
View: https://twitter.com/RochieWBZ/status/1488581989510828033?s=20&t=th29KbXWdvsIjC4bGVuoqw
The kid will never amount to anything if dad carries his hockey bag around for him.
GOAT hard ass hockey dad, hardly.
It wouldn't surprise me if we hear nothing from the Pats or Brady's camp about anything planned for him for a while. There's no particular rush other than the sports media getting all in a lather about it.
Maybe it was a real heavy air day and the ball was traveling as in peanut butter.
Yeah it’s meaningless and even silly I agree but it IS ceremonial which is the purpose of it all. This is a part of the celebration.
I certainly don't think we'll hear anything before the Super Bowl, that's for sure.
If something is going to happen, I would imagine we get an announcement around the time the NFL schedule comes out, and the Pats announce a Tom Brady day at one of their home games. Besides the fact that I'll make sure I'm in attendance for that with my son, I could care less if it happens or not.
Yep to all of this.
Brady never fell off a cliff. His swan song with another team didn't hurt us. His departure was fairly amicable, public speculation notwithstanding.
Anyone in New England who has an issue with Brady doesn't like happiness.
Each of the six times Brady voluntarily signed contracts and contract extensions with the Pats, usually for a home team discount, was all of the love I need for him to demonstrate.
Prediction is that there is a Tom Brady day next year which will be the Jets home game where things get mushy. Has to be the Jets
Prediction is that there is a Tom Brady day next year which will be the Jets home game where things get mushy. Has to be the Jets
So this is my first ever post on SOSH and will likely be my only one as the self-important nature of my
writing should probably get me banned. I made my account here in 2007 after lurking since 2003 (I
found baseball through Johnny Gould and the boys on MLB on 5 in the UK with their two games a
week and became a Red Sox fan very quickly) and only actually activated the thing a few years ago. I
had thought about writing something when Ortiz retired or maybe Jon Lester and indeed when Tom
left the Pats but I waited for today because I think I always knew this would have to be the day. I
strongly advise you just skip to the end as there's a fair amount of overly emotional pish on the way. If
not, ill begin.
The first football game I ever actively watched was Superbowl 38. As an 17 year old I struggled a bit
with insomnia and, growing up in Scotland, late night US sports (baseball) and entertainment (WWF)
had become a useful crutch to get through many nights. My father had been a WFT fan since the 80s
and was watching the game. Normally, I skipped any football but with my Red Sox fandom being at
maybe its peak after the 2003 ALCS I figured I could watch the “Boston Team” and try and figure out
what was going on. I didn’t take to it straight away but I enjoyed it enough that over the next few
years it became a secondary interest, something that I could link to my love of the Red Sox but didn’t
have the level of investment where it bothered me. Ive always kind of used sports as a crutch to deal with
built up anger or stress and I have placed at times a borderline unhealthy importance on the results
of whichever of my teams was playing at the time. This was different and it was good.
Things would change in 2007. Side effects of a medication had left me with some health issues and I
faced a year off of university to recover with little to keep me motivated or busy. Football seemed
the obvious new hobby to help me get through the tough months that followed. Brady and Moss and
Welker and the 2007 team were as good a thing to latch onto as I could imagine. I bought Madden,
studied strategy and watched every second of the season I could. Brady though was the anchor to
the whole endeavour. The story of the guy drafted so low who was now at the pinnacle of his sport
gave me hope that even when things looked really shite there was always a way through with
enough hard work. So, perhaps unfortunately, I had another sport to lay too many hopes on. The
Scottish game was devastating, linked as it was to this part of me. It happened at the worst time and
to this day I cant watch any part of it. The next few months were not good for me and my health but
somehow I got through (my big turning point mentally was Jon Lester’s no hitter, watched pitch by
pitch on MLB gameday's daft 2d graphic).
Brady’s injury and a return to university didn’t derail my support for the Patriots. This was now the
biggest team in my life and I remember scrambling to find any bar in a city in Austria I was doing an
internship in during the summer of ’09 that might be showing Brady’s comeback game early on a
Tuesday morning. When I graduated and returned to that same city the following year to begin my
postgrad, going to any sports bar or betting shop that would show the Patriots became my Sunday
night pilgrimage as I adapted to life in a different country. I think the excellence of Brady that year,
coupled with the tough adjustment moving country brings, brought him more than even the team to
a position of importance for me. It encouraged me to start playing football at the age of 25 and I
enjoyed 4 good years in 2 countries playing first DB then LB and for the majority a 190 pound
defensive end. The few years of near misses were tough but in the end the joy of the comeback in SB
49 at the same time as my future seemed completely set was worth everything.
Of course, things weren’t set and two days before the Pats played the Steelers in the 2016 AFCCG my
fiancé left me after six years. I could have and probably should have spiraled. I did for the first week,
drinking far too much and putting my job at risk. Then Brady came back from 25 points down in the
Superbowl. I think like most people who actually watched him week in week out it was his mental
acuity and determination which I admired the most in him. This comeback not only gave me the
momentary joy of victory but further motivation to not look at the negatives of what has happened
but the positives of what can happen if you trust in yourself. Like any long term breakup I didn’t get
over things straight away but that night in Houston sure as feck helped push me along.
That October I was living in a new country once more and one Sunday evening I was watching the
Pats with a girl I had been on a few dates with. She had heard of Brady but didn’t know much beyond
the surface level. As we watched I explained things to her, the trophies, the comebacks, the chip on
the shoulder of the sixth round pick. She listened. As the weeks and months went on she learned
what a Gronk was. Wondered why I was obsessing about us missing a girl named Julian (the girl in
question is not a native English speaker). She eventually began to joke that really I loved Brady more
than her and she was going to have to get used to that (she was on this as with her decision to be
with me completely wrong). When it came time to do the seating plan for our wedding she had no
problem having some of our guests sit at the Tom Brady table (or indeed theLil’ Sebastian table).
As Brady played on with six rings and nothing left to prove, all his struggles behind him we debated
whether we could really justify naming our child Tom if it turned out to be awee boy we were
going to have.
On that fateful day in March 2020 we were getting used to the fact that we were about to face our
first lockdown and all the things we wanted to do before the baby came were probably not going to
happen. I was on my second day working from home and, not knowing how to deal with that
properly, was starting a new Total War campaign when the BBC notification came. Tom was leaving.
There was a numbness and then my wife came through having had the same message. She held me
and Ill be honest there were almost tears. Five minutes later there would be. As she held me she got
a call from our doctor with some test results (good ones). The baby was a little girl and she was
growing in perfect health. Nothing else mattered anymore. Nothing. When my wife asked me how
I felt I said just three words. Fuck Tom Brady. Not out of bitterness of anything negative, but because
at that second nothing in the universe mattered beyond what was there and real and actually important.
That’s the thing about our sporting heroes. We project our hopes and dreams onto them and we feel
their failures and successes as our own. Some of us place too great an importance on this and let it
affect us far too much (thankfully ive never smashed a TV like an over-zealous Cowboys fan) to the
confusion of those who are more grounded in reality. Sometimes though it can help us when we
really need it. When we need an escape. Sometimes we live that through a team and others through
an individual. Sometimes an athlete is more than a team even if he might not be bigger than it. That
to me was Tom. Flawed with some questionable decisions and friends but undeniably the best ever
at what he does. An inspiration for those who need to be reminded that you can always come back if
you believe in yourself and your ability. Ridiculous as it seems I don’t think I would be where I am
with all the wonderful things I have found in my life if I don’t have that to reach for when my life
seemed to be falling apart.
At first I thought I couldn’t watch him play somewhere else but I was lying to myself. His playoff run
last year helped me through a tough second lockdown. Not as previous runs had. This time I could
just enjoy it with no real emotional attachment. Having the little one I think has cut those kind of
ridiculous ties I had to sport for ever and now I can relax and just enjoy the games as never before. I
think watching Mac Jones this year was maybe the most fun Ive had watching football, all
expectations gone and just enjoying the game for what it is – a game. I cant wait for September to
see how this team grows.
All that being said, I'm going to miss Tom. His career overlaps mostly with my adulthood and journey
from high school to fatherhood and inevitably there's now a big gap there. Some of you reading this
may not get that – hes just some millionaire on the other side of the world. But to those who
understand, well they will understand. I feel privileged to have watched the majority of Tom’s career
and especially to have read a large part of the narrative here on SOSH. Whether its been refreshing
game threads or legal discussions around Deflategate or wallowing in the glory of what is, this has
been a part of my life for 15 odd years. Now its over. But its been fucking awesome. Thank you Tom
and thank you SOSH.
TL/DR I'm a self-important and self-indulgent twat but Tom is awesome so thank you Tom
writing should probably get me banned. I made my account here in 2007 after lurking since 2003 (I
found baseball through Johnny Gould and the boys on MLB on 5 in the UK with their two games a
week and became a Red Sox fan very quickly) and only actually activated the thing a few years ago. I
had thought about writing something when Ortiz retired or maybe Jon Lester and indeed when Tom
left the Pats but I waited for today because I think I always knew this would have to be the day. I
strongly advise you just skip to the end as there's a fair amount of overly emotional pish on the way. If
not, ill begin.
The first football game I ever actively watched was Superbowl 38. As an 17 year old I struggled a bit
with insomnia and, growing up in Scotland, late night US sports (baseball) and entertainment (WWF)
had become a useful crutch to get through many nights. My father had been a WFT fan since the 80s
and was watching the game. Normally, I skipped any football but with my Red Sox fandom being at
maybe its peak after the 2003 ALCS I figured I could watch the “Boston Team” and try and figure out
what was going on. I didn’t take to it straight away but I enjoyed it enough that over the next few
years it became a secondary interest, something that I could link to my love of the Red Sox but didn’t
have the level of investment where it bothered me. Ive always kind of used sports as a crutch to deal with
built up anger or stress and I have placed at times a borderline unhealthy importance on the results
of whichever of my teams was playing at the time. This was different and it was good.
Things would change in 2007. Side effects of a medication had left me with some health issues and I
faced a year off of university to recover with little to keep me motivated or busy. Football seemed
the obvious new hobby to help me get through the tough months that followed. Brady and Moss and
Welker and the 2007 team were as good a thing to latch onto as I could imagine. I bought Madden,
studied strategy and watched every second of the season I could. Brady though was the anchor to
the whole endeavour. The story of the guy drafted so low who was now at the pinnacle of his sport
gave me hope that even when things looked really shite there was always a way through with
enough hard work. So, perhaps unfortunately, I had another sport to lay too many hopes on. The
Scottish game was devastating, linked as it was to this part of me. It happened at the worst time and
to this day I cant watch any part of it. The next few months were not good for me and my health but
somehow I got through (my big turning point mentally was Jon Lester’s no hitter, watched pitch by
pitch on MLB gameday's daft 2d graphic).
Brady’s injury and a return to university didn’t derail my support for the Patriots. This was now the
biggest team in my life and I remember scrambling to find any bar in a city in Austria I was doing an
internship in during the summer of ’09 that might be showing Brady’s comeback game early on a
Tuesday morning. When I graduated and returned to that same city the following year to begin my
postgrad, going to any sports bar or betting shop that would show the Patriots became my Sunday
night pilgrimage as I adapted to life in a different country. I think the excellence of Brady that year,
coupled with the tough adjustment moving country brings, brought him more than even the team to
a position of importance for me. It encouraged me to start playing football at the age of 25 and I
enjoyed 4 good years in 2 countries playing first DB then LB and for the majority a 190 pound
defensive end. The few years of near misses were tough but in the end the joy of the comeback in SB
49 at the same time as my future seemed completely set was worth everything.
Of course, things weren’t set and two days before the Pats played the Steelers in the 2016 AFCCG my
fiancé left me after six years. I could have and probably should have spiraled. I did for the first week,
drinking far too much and putting my job at risk. Then Brady came back from 25 points down in the
Superbowl. I think like most people who actually watched him week in week out it was his mental
acuity and determination which I admired the most in him. This comeback not only gave me the
momentary joy of victory but further motivation to not look at the negatives of what has happened
but the positives of what can happen if you trust in yourself. Like any long term breakup I didn’t get
over things straight away but that night in Houston sure as feck helped push me along.
That October I was living in a new country once more and one Sunday evening I was watching the
Pats with a girl I had been on a few dates with. She had heard of Brady but didn’t know much beyond
the surface level. As we watched I explained things to her, the trophies, the comebacks, the chip on
the shoulder of the sixth round pick. She listened. As the weeks and months went on she learned
what a Gronk was. Wondered why I was obsessing about us missing a girl named Julian (the girl in
question is not a native English speaker). She eventually began to joke that really I loved Brady more
than her and she was going to have to get used to that (she was on this as with her decision to be
with me completely wrong). When it came time to do the seating plan for our wedding she had no
problem having some of our guests sit at the Tom Brady table (or indeed theLil’ Sebastian table).
As Brady played on with six rings and nothing left to prove, all his struggles behind him we debated
whether we could really justify naming our child Tom if it turned out to be awee boy we were
going to have.
On that fateful day in March 2020 we were getting used to the fact that we were about to face our
first lockdown and all the things we wanted to do before the baby came were probably not going to
happen. I was on my second day working from home and, not knowing how to deal with that
properly, was starting a new Total War campaign when the BBC notification came. Tom was leaving.
There was a numbness and then my wife came through having had the same message. She held me
and Ill be honest there were almost tears. Five minutes later there would be. As she held me she got
a call from our doctor with some test results (good ones). The baby was a little girl and she was
growing in perfect health. Nothing else mattered anymore. Nothing. When my wife asked me how
I felt I said just three words. Fuck Tom Brady. Not out of bitterness of anything negative, but because
at that second nothing in the universe mattered beyond what was there and real and actually important.
That’s the thing about our sporting heroes. We project our hopes and dreams onto them and we feel
their failures and successes as our own. Some of us place too great an importance on this and let it
affect us far too much (thankfully ive never smashed a TV like an over-zealous Cowboys fan) to the
confusion of those who are more grounded in reality. Sometimes though it can help us when we
really need it. When we need an escape. Sometimes we live that through a team and others through
an individual. Sometimes an athlete is more than a team even if he might not be bigger than it. That
to me was Tom. Flawed with some questionable decisions and friends but undeniably the best ever
at what he does. An inspiration for those who need to be reminded that you can always come back if
you believe in yourself and your ability. Ridiculous as it seems I don’t think I would be where I am
with all the wonderful things I have found in my life if I don’t have that to reach for when my life
seemed to be falling apart.
At first I thought I couldn’t watch him play somewhere else but I was lying to myself. His playoff run
last year helped me through a tough second lockdown. Not as previous runs had. This time I could
just enjoy it with no real emotional attachment. Having the little one I think has cut those kind of
ridiculous ties I had to sport for ever and now I can relax and just enjoy the games as never before. I
think watching Mac Jones this year was maybe the most fun Ive had watching football, all
expectations gone and just enjoying the game for what it is – a game. I cant wait for September to
see how this team grows.
All that being said, I'm going to miss Tom. His career overlaps mostly with my adulthood and journey
from high school to fatherhood and inevitably there's now a big gap there. Some of you reading this
may not get that – hes just some millionaire on the other side of the world. But to those who
understand, well they will understand. I feel privileged to have watched the majority of Tom’s career
and especially to have read a large part of the narrative here on SOSH. Whether its been refreshing
game threads or legal discussions around Deflategate or wallowing in the glory of what is, this has
been a part of my life for 15 odd years. Now its over. But its been fucking awesome. Thank you Tom
and thank you SOSH.
TL/DR I'm a self-important and self-indulgent twat but Tom is awesome so thank you Tom
I’d rather it be the Bills. The crowd will be absolutely nuts and the team could probably benefit from the atmosphere.
I'm probably not alone in this, but welcome to SoSH and hopefully, this isn't your last post. It was excellent.
Makes some sense, plus he gets in the big kiss to Buccaneers-ville now before the un-retirement to a new team later this year. Speaking of which...
Or he's traded to the Raiders for Carr. If Brady is really looking for a way to fire up his competitive juices with a new challenge, he engineers his way to his house of horrors in Denver to tangle with the QBs in that division.
Welcome, Emp! I for one appreciate this post very much! Feel free to keep posting.
Great post, thanks for sharing. I think many of us have similar stories of how the Pats and Tom mark certain events in our lives. It is kind of mind-boggling how much different my life is and how much has happened since that first Super Bowl, which is at it should be since 20 years have gone by. By at the same time having Tom as the connective tissue to that season makes it seem like not so long ago.
You should post more.
It doesn’t look right to me-would’ve been Lewis in CF, Nixon Rf, Daubach in left.
Terrible lineup, cost Pedro lots of wins.
Has anyone ever been bumped up to full member after one post? If not, let’s have a SOSH first. Great post.
Really fantastic post, thanks for sharing. The 2013 Sox helped me get through a really low point in my life, so I totally get how something as inconsequential as a sports team or an athlete can mean so much. I'd imagine a lot of other SoSH posters can relate to that notion as well.
I hope we see more of you around here.
