Tom Brady’s career has clearly not been meaningless. Yet in the past, I’ve written about the overall meaningless of sports.
In the grand scheme of things, these gridiron heroes don’t change the world daily. Not even Tom Brady.
That’s not to say this world doesn’t need heroes.
If some happen to come dressed in helmets and jockstraps, we’ll take what we can get on this planet.
Tom Brady is a hero to many. And this Super Bowl week we got to see the G.O.A.T. get vulnerable as he spoke about his father being his personal hero.
The 4-time Super Bowl champ and yearly dominator of the AFC, choked up when he was asked about his hero. Brady could only repeat the words “my dad,” when asked to talk further about it.
That’s the right answer to the question of course. Men like Tom Brady Sr. have made it possible for sons like Tom Brady to inspire the sports world with heroics on the field.
I’m sure Tom Brady Sr. sacrificed quite a bit to make a better life possible for his kid. Not everyone can be Michael Jordan or Wayne Gretzky. Somebody’s got to work a mundane job to make ends meet while these future stars develop.
Thanks to Mr. and Mrs. Brady, the football-loving world has been privy to the greatness of one Tom Brady.
Not everyone loves the Pats QB of course. But even through the eyes of haters, Brady has stirred emotion and made the NFL more meaningful during his 16-year career.
How many Jets fans have privately thought about switching allegiances because they’ve mostly had no shot at even a division title with Brady in their way?
Or how about all the Dolphins coaches who have received pink slips as the Patriots block their way twice a year?
Or the rest of the AFC who know there is only one real slot open yearly in their Conference Title Game. They just pray they don’t meet New England until the Conference Title Fight.
Even as I sit here as a Falcons fan, I see Tom Brady as a hero. The man should have never even had a chance to start in the NFL.
On most teams, the coach would have been too chicken shit to keep him, a back-up, ahead of an All-Pro like Drew Bledsoe.
And though Brady’s underdog status wore off after his second Super Bowl appearance, it was replaced with a hero’s aura.
I doubt his longevity in this League will ever be matched going forward. Certainly not his achievements within the team concept in terms of Super Bowl achievements.
That cannot be ignored. That is not meaningless.
It was a moving moment to hear the biggest sports hero of the past 15 years open up about his dad. Though it was just a couple words, I wish there were more moments like this during Super Bowl media days.
If so, it would shine an even brighter light on all the otherwise meaningless questions most players have to answer.