There is an extensive literature about the possibility of an
individual selling their soul to an entity (let’s just refer to this entity The
Devil) in exchange for their heart’s desire.
That may be fame, wealth, love, success with members of the opposite
sex, or anything else humans want; use your imagination. Usually in these fictional tales, the deal
ends up badly for the dealmaker, because The Devil is a difficult entity to
outwit. If you sell your soul for
immortality, be sure to add eternal youth or you’ll be a decrepit old coot for
a very long time. If you wish for fame,
you’ll be the best-known person in the world, but then someone else will take
your place because all fame is fleeting.
Anyone wanting an abject lessen on the subject should watch the film
Bedazzled (the original Dudley Moore/Peter Cook version, not the vastly
inferior American remake).
If there is one person on the planet I’d suspect of having
made such a deal, it would be Tom Brady.
A physically unprepossessing back-up quarterback in college, he was
somehow drafted in the 6th round of the NFL draft. He warmed the bench until the starting QB for
the Patriots, a Pro Bowl caliber quarterback named Drew Bledsoe, suffered a
horrific injury, making Brady the starter.
He led the team to a Super Bowl, and suddenly that old axiom about
football players not losing their jobs due to an injury was out the door, as
was Bledsoe.
You know the rest.
Tom Brady has played in 18% of all the Super Bowls ever. He has won more Super Bowls than any
franchise in the NFL. He married a
gorgeous supermodel who makes millions of dollars a year for being
beautiful. There have been the
occasional bumps—modest injuries, Spygate, Deflategate, inexplicably Eli
Manning twice—but he has bounced back from every trial stronger than
before. And now he has done what many
said was impossible, winning his 7th Super Bowl at the age of 43,
and age that is probably five years beyond what used to be considered the
productive life span of a quarterback.
At 43 George Blanda was called “The Ageless Wonder” and he was primarily
a kicker.
With all the praise being heaped upon Tom Brady after Tampa
Bay’s triumph in Super Bowl LV, there is one thing that I don’t think is
getting enough praise. A year ago Tom
Brady had a decision to make, one of the most significant ones of his
life. Should he stay with the familiar
New England Patriots and Bill Belichick, a combination that had led to the
Patriots winning 17 division titles in 19 years, or should he seek his fortunes
elsewhere? And if the latter,
where? Los Angeles has good weather and
two NFL teams, one (the Chargers) that was in need of a new quarterback. The Raiders were opening a new venue in
glitzy Las Vegas. Several other teams (Vikings,
Bears) had flirted with the playoffs but were maybe only missing a quarterback
with some magic to go all the way.
Tom Brady chose the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, a team that had gone
7-9 the year before and had a young quarterback named Jameis Winston who had won
the Heisman Trophy, been selected first overall in the draft (unlike Brady who
had been chosen 199th), and had thrown for over 5,000 yards and 30
touchdowns the year before. He also
threw 30 interceptions, but he was a mobile quarterback which is the current
rage in desirable QB talents; Tom Brady, for all his training, is about as
immobile as a quarterback can be.
I won’t do the research, but I believe that no one in the
major media outlets predicted Brady would choose to become Tampa Tom. What was it that made Tom look at a franchise
whose best years were far, far behind them and decide that they gave him the
best chance of winning a Super Bowl NOW?
Did he know he could attract Rob Gronkowski from retirement, and Antonio
Brown from his exile? Did he know that
he could work with Coach Bruce Arians to develop an offense that would suit his
playing style?
The results certainly looked iffy at the midpoint of the
season. The Bucs started off at an
unimpressive 7-5, including an embarrassing loss to the Super Bowl favorite
Kansas City Chiefs and two solid losses to division-rival New Orleans. They came off their bye week and did what
they had to do, going undefeated the rest of the season to gain a tenuous hold
on a wild card spot in the playoffs.
Then, in order to win it all, they had to beat future Hall of Famer Drew
Brees and the Saints for a third time, beat future Hall of Famer and eventual
league MVP Arron Rogers, and then beat possible future Hal of Famer and former
MVP Patrick Mahomes, who had a 25-1 record since becoming the Chiefs’ signal
caller. I won’t mention that they also
had to beat a sub-.500 Washington team with its third string QB.
Was anyone in America as smart as Tom Brady to see that Tom
Brady + Tamp Bay Buccaneers = instant championship? That what that team needed was a change of
culture from the most successful and driven QB of all time, a few new pieces
that would want to play with Brady, and a risk-averse QB who could temper his
coaches’ inane motto of “No risky, no bisky”?
If there was anyone else who saw what Tampa Tom saw, I don’t know his or
her name.
I am still put off by Brady holding practices that violated
COVID protocols, and then declaring that there was nothing to fear from a virus
(he might want to talk to the families of the over 400,000 people in America
who have died from COVID about what to be afraid of). But in the wake of a Super Bowl trophy,
what’s a little pandemic among teammates?
In the end, it’s like the time on The Simpsons when someone
asked movie star Rainer Wolfcastle how he slept at night. He replied, “On top of a pile of money with
many beautiful ladies.” Tom only has
Giselle Bunchen to sleep with, but I imagine that’s sufficient.
