Tom Brady retires

Shaky Walton

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I was annoyed on Tuesday when Tom's post did not mention the Pats. But not because I felt it was an intentional snub. Rather, because I thought it was a tone deaf mistake by his PR team and also him.

Anyone watching his ESPN series or reading or hearing his comments over the last year knows that he has said plenty of positive things about his time in NE, Kraft and yes, Bill Belichick. And he's been very consistent about it.

So it was annoying to see a botched PR move. Not because it made me feel snubbed. But because I knew immediately it would take on a life of its own, with overly sensitive Pats fans feeling butthurt and other fans using it as an opportunity to needle Pats fans. Who didn't receive a few of those emails or texts from fans across the land?

So it's nice to see that Tom has learned from that mistake and included plenty of Pats content in his latest video release.

In the end, my memories of Brady will be of him on the field, the incredible and many thrills he provided me as a Pats fan, and to a much lesser extent, the fact that he almost always got it right off the field. One PR blunder at the end is an unfortunate, yet relatively meaningless, footnote, in my view. I'm still very surprised it was made given how savvy Tom usually is, but that is the human condition.

One last thing. I root for the Pats and not any one player, so I stopped rooting for Tom after he left NE. I even rooted against him at times as I didn't want him to have success in a different uniform. I'm not entirely sure why I felt that way, but feelings are feelings. All that said, I find myself sad that he wont be out there on the field next year.

Well, one more last thing: I still very much wish that Tom had never left. And conversely, I'm still quite glad that the Pats are in a much better position QB wise that Tampa is going into next season.
 

CreightonGubanich

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It's certainly been said enough at this point what a constant Tom Brady was in our lives, but I have to echo it one more time. The sheer number of life checkpoints that I've passed in Tom's career is pretty astounding to me. I'm 35. Tom was drafted when I was 14, and took over as the starter my freshman year of high school. During the 2001 playoff run, I went to the mall to try to buy a Brady jersey. Everywhere was sold out of the official ones, so I bought one of those off-brand Brady jerseys that don't quite look like anything the Patriots have ever actually worn. I didn't care - I break it out for every big game and it's still the only Patriots jersey I own. My high school years coincided with two Patriots Super Bowls, the only championships any Boston area team had won in my lifetime. The win in XXXVIII vindicated the underdog story of XXXVI, but couldn't quite wash the bitter taste of the Grady Little Game out of my mouth.

Then I went away to college on the North Shore of Boston, and the story of my first semester was the 2004 Red Sox. It was a fever dream of a sports fan experience that transcended anything else that happened that year. And then, after I'd finally absorbed it and processed it all, here comes Tom Brady and the Patriots once again, looking for back-to-back titles and the official stamp of a dynasty. It all felt familiar, and it felt like home. I watched that Super Bowl in the dorms with the same group of crazy Red Sox fans who'd just recovered from the Sox playoff run. I met my soon-to-be wife that year, shortly thereafter. My college experience was bookended again by the Sox and Pats my senior year, with the Sox winning in 2007 (with me in attendance for Game 2, Curt Schilling's final start), and the Scottish Game marking the beginning of the end of my time in Boston.

I got married in 2011 -- was on my honeymoon in Mexico when the Bruins won the Cup, a nice consolation prize after the Pats lost another heartbreaker to the Giants. I was on the couch at home with my wife for Malcolm Butler's pick in XLIX, and on that same couch with my sleeping infant son when Brady led the Pats back from 28-3. Against all odds, the Pats made two more over the next couple years -- the last one coming when my son was just old enough to watch and start to ask questions. He's six now, and loves football. He likes Mac Jones and the Patriots, but I've told him so many times that Tommy is the GOAT that I think he's a Tom Brady fan first. He had tears in his eyes when I told him Tom was walking away.

Over the past several years, I've watched the Boston sports icons of my youth, those last ties to a time when I cared about and invested way too much in sports, leave and retire. First Pierce, then Papi, now Brady. There's two left: Bill Belichick and Patrice Bergeron, and I'm going to appreciate the hell out of however many years they have left.
 

McBride11

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I may have missed this, but perhaps TB12 most impressive stat.

Most WR yards after age 40 all time
1. Jerry Rice 2169 yards
2. Tomy Brady 6 yards

So not only is Brady the best QB all time, he is the second WR >40 of all time.
 

jezza1918

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I may have missed this, but perhaps TB12 most impressive stat.

Most WR yards after age 40 all time
1. Jerry Rice 2169 yards
2. Tomy Brady 6 yards

So not only is Brady the best QB all time, he is the second WR >40 of all time.
My favorite add on to this stat is that every player in the league ever is tied at #3 with 0. And then there is Brett Favre with -2.
 

BaseballJones

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Ha nice. So Brady’s ranks in NFL history for players 40 years old or older:

#1 passing
#2 rushing
#2 receiving

LOL
 

Mueller's Twin Grannies

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I think Brady will most likely do... exactly what he said he was going to do in his goodbye: spend more time with his kids and family. He's spent the last 22 years with basically no time of his own and still has a lot of other irons in the fire with his outside-football ventures. I think he's going to take some time to be with his kids, maybe even make another one, and not worry about watching film. He golfs, too, doesn't he? My guess is he'll hit the links too
 

Silverdude2167

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Unless he makes the decision in like Feb, I can't see him coming back. His whole reason for retiring was that it was a yearly job of getting and staying in shape.

If he takes 6 months off, he won't be able to get back to where he needs to be to succeed.
 

BaseballJones

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He won in his second season at age 24, then in his second to last season at age 43. Incredible.

I don’t think anyone will break his record for longest span between Super Bowl victories.
 

Deathofthebambino

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Kind of surprised that this hasn't been posted here yet, but there is a report out today that Giselle gave Tom an ultimatum, me or football:

https://okmagazine.com/p/gisele-bundchen-tom-brady-nfl-ultimatum-retirement/

In the end, it came down to leaving the sport or watching his wife walk away.“Gisele laid down the terms: It’s me or football,” the source says, noting that she was terrified for his physical and mental well-being after so many years on the field.
“She’d been asking him to quit for six years almost daily. Tom would say one thing and then do another. He was so indecisive about leaving,” continues the source, adding that Bündchen, 41, began to feel Brady, 44, was lying to her about everything.“It took years, but she wore him down to the point where he finally understood her reasoning.”
 

Traut

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Kind of surprised that this hasn't been posted here yet, but there is a report out today that Giselle gave Tom an ultimatum, me or football:

https://okmagazine.com/p/gisele-bundchen-tom-brady-nfl-ultimatum-retirement/

In the end, it came down to leaving the sport or watching his wife walk away.“Gisele laid down the terms: It’s me or football,” the source says, noting that she was terrified for his physical and mental well-being after so many years on the field.
“She’d been asking him to quit for six years almost daily. Tom would say one thing and then do another. He was so indecisive about leaving,” continues the source, adding that Bündchen, 41, began to feel Brady, 44, was lying to her about everything.“It took years, but she wore him down to the point where he finally understood her reasoning.”
It’s a big story that I’m surprised doesn’t have somewhat more traction. It’s insightful into who Brady is and also confirms that Giselle was most likely the person who leaked the story.

Maybe we will get more on the last Man in the Arena and maybe not. You never know with Brady.

It seems otherwise likely that he would be back next season though his Bucs contract and their situation may have complicated that.

But in the NFL like most things in life when there’s a will there’s a way.
 

Ralphwiggum

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Until a reputable source runs something like this it is akin to the supermarket tabloid story about Elvis being alive and living in a basement somewhere with aliens. I don’t care either way but I don’t think it’s a big story (at least yet).

If Gisele wanted this story out there she has access to a million actual journalists who could have run with it.
 

BroodsSexton

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That article is terribly written from apparently a single anonymous source offering insight like “She was on his case when he was still playing for the Patriots,” and
“Gisele grew increasingly angry that Tom was leaving the work to her. He’d be away during the season and training with the team off-season, and she’d be stuck at home taking care of everything,” dishes the source, noting it often felt like they were living apart. “Plus, Gisele is a fiercely independent person with her own career, but she couldn’t nurture that part of herself because she had no time.”
Love the Gisele as Yoko bit though.
 

johnmd20

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That article is terribly written from apparently a single anonymous source offering insight like “She was on his case when he was still playing for the Patriots,” and
Love the Gisele as Yoko bit though.
Stuck at home taking care of everything.

Like Tom and Gisele aren't worth 500 million dollars and certainly have help at home. Incredible. Yes, this story is nonsense. Unless Bat Boy really is alive.
 

Harry Hooper

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Stuck at home taking care of everything.

Like Tom and Gisele aren't worth 500 million dollars and certainly have help at home. Incredible. Yes, this story is nonsense. Unless Bat Boy really is alive.
Beaten to the Bat Boy reference. Damn!

Guess I'll have to go with JFK still alive in a nursing home instead.

I'll stick to what I posted upthread on Feb. 1st:
he gets in the big kiss to Buccaneers-ville now before the un-retirement to a new team later this year.
 

E5 Yaz

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As soon as you see the phrase "dishes the source," your bullshit detector should start going off
 

PedroKsBambino

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It's an interesting situation---Brady has done absolutely nothing to make it easy for Bucs here, with the likely-not-an-accident Gronk comments and then Brady's own that he isn't sure how he'll feel in summer.

Bucs need a qb and need to make some plans and cap management choices sooner than he needs to do anything. It is not like he will stop working out!

Wonder if it's a play to get back to SF (which would fit, imo) or something else.
 

Shaky Walton

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It's an interesting situation---Brady has done absolutely nothing to make it easy for Bucs here, with the likely-not-an-accident Gronk comments and then Brady's own that he isn't sure how he'll feel in summer.

Bucs need a qb and need to make some plans and cap management choices sooner than he needs to do anything. It is not like he will stop working out!

Wonder if it's a play to get back to SF (which would fit, imo) or something else.
The SF gambit does make some sense.

Either way, as someone who loves Tom but hated seeing him in another uniform, I will take a little pleasure in the Hamlet routine causing the Bucs some havoc and will hope that Tom stays retired.
 

Reverend

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Stuck at home taking care of everything.

Like Tom and Gisele aren't worth 500 million dollars and certainly have help at home. Incredible. Yes, this story is nonsense. Unless Bat Boy really is alive.
Beaten to the Bat Boy reference. Damn!

Guess I'll have to go with JFK still alive in a nursing home instead.

I'll stick to what I posted upthread on Feb. 1st:
I would have gone with the incredible frog boy, myself.

View: https://youtu.be/0VhSssXgJT8
 

Leather

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Just to play devil’s advocate for a moment:

Assuming that report is true, isn’t it the job of the HC to approve (and improve) game plans when he feels it necessary? Isn’t this kind of Brady letting his ego get in the way of how a football team is ordinarily run? Isn’t this what he didn’t like about BB?
 

lexrageorge

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Just to play devil’s advocate for a moment:

Assuming that report is true, isn’t it the job of the HC to approve (and improve) game plans when he feels it necessary? Isn’t this kind of Brady letting his ego get in the way of how a football team is ordinarily run? Isn’t this what he didn’t like about BB?
I recall in The Football Life special on Bill Belichick, there as a segment right before a game against the Jets in Giants stadium. Bill was recalling a story about how he and Tom Coughlin would hand Parcells the defensive and offensive game plans, and Parcells would throw them back saying "they're all fucked up" or something similar.

In the same show there was also a segment where Bill and Brady were going over how to find a way to exploit Ed Reed, and Belichick said he would work with Bill O'Brien to get something in the game plan.

Not sure what happened in Tampa, or at the end of Brady's time in New England. But the head coach will always have the final say on the game plans.
 

HomeRunBaker

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It's an interesting situation---Brady has done absolutely nothing to make it easy for Bucs here, with the likely-not-an-accident Gronk comments and then Brady's own that he isn't sure how he'll feel in summer.

Bucs need a qb and need to make some plans and cap management choices sooner than he needs to do anything. It is not like he will stop working out!

Wonder if it's a play to get back to SF (which would fit, imo) or something else.
I’ve been meaning to share my thoughts on this all week and now that I’m here I see that you already have! Tom has already achieved his goal in Tampa by winning a Super Bowl. He made the required repeat tour to no avail and now his work in Tampa is done. What could the next challenge be? What time is a QB away from a Super Bowl who also is the team he grew up rooting for?

I’m all in on the “This is a play to get to SF” and with Jimmy G asking for a trade this makes too much sense to trade Jimmy for Tommy’s rights. This guy is going to win Super Bowls with two different franchises since leaving Belichick and the Patriots, isn’t he?
 

Gash Prex

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Did we talk about this? Tom is producing and staring in a movie

View: https://twitter.com/THR/status/1496547844295114752


Inspired by a true story, Brady tells of four best friends and New England Patriots fans who take a life-changing trip to the 2017 Super Bowl LI to see their quarterback hero, Tom Brady, play and the chaos that ensues as they navigate the wilds of the biggest sporting event in the country. Tomlin, Fonda, Moreno and Field will play the quartet.

Brady, making a transition from football player to Hollywood player, was deeply involved with the inception of the project, developing it with Donna Gigliotti and Endeavor Content. He will produce through his production company, 199 Productions, along with Gigliotti, who counts Hidden Figures, Silver Linings Playbook and Shakespeare in Love among her credits. Endeavor Content is also producing.

Production is due to begin this spring. Marvin and Covino wrote the latest script based on a draft by Emily Halpern and Sarah Haskins, known for co-writing the coming-of-age movie Booksmart.
https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/movies/movie-news/tom-brady-jane-fonda-road-trip-comedy-1235098335/