Age is Only a Number

Tom Brady led the Tampa Bay Buccaneers to
victory in Super Bowl LVII (CBS Sports)

Today is 2-2-22, which would be trivial, except that mark on the calendar made me think how I'll need some luck to make it to 3-3-33 and a lot of good fortune to be here when 4-4-44 rolls around. Age makes one more reflective.

Speaking of reflection, Tom Brady mused on life, family, and football after the Bucs lost in the playoffs last week. To little surprise he retired from professional football yesterday. It seems like he's been around forever, but his entire NFL career took place in the 21st century.

The span of his career is outrageous. There are plenty of Brady fans—plenty of recent teammates, too—who don’t remember the Michigan platoons, his flabby combine, the draft day demotion, the Drew Bledsoe injury succession, or the iffy Tuck Rule versus the Raiders in the snow. Lots of fans hopped aboard the Brady Experience along the way. Just as there are older Brady fans from New England who can recall the grisly, pre-Brady, pre-Belichick, pre-Bledsoe wilderness, there are young Bucs fans who will remember Brady strictly in pirate flags and pewter.

With his supermodel wife Gisele Bündchen, three handsome kids (the first with actress Bridget Moynahan), hundreds of $millions earned from football, retirement relatively uninjured at the top of his game, universally admired and recognized, Tom Brady embodies the American dream: a man from humble beginnings, continually underestimated, who worked harder than anyone else and achieved unmatched greatness in his chosen profession.

Athletes are never as famous or accomplished after retirement, but don't bet against Tom Brady. The good news for me is that, if I do make it to 4-4-44, I get to watch him do it.

The Brady Bunch (of Super Bowl Rings)

Tom Brady and the Lombardi Trophy
are old friends (WSJ photo)

Like most football fans, I rooted against the New England Patriots because they dominated the NFL like the Yankees used to in baseball and because for a while they were competing with the 49ers (and Steelers and Cowboys) for the unofficial title of best franchise.

By the mid-teens it was clear that the Patriots, Bill Belichick, and Tom Brady were the front-runners for, respectively, greatest franchise, greatest coach, and greatest quarterback of all time.

In 2016, believing that Tom Brady's career was coming to an end, I set aside my rooting interest in the 49ers and appreciated what we have been seeing since 2000 when he started his NFL career.

In 2018 the Patriots, Belichick, and Brady sealed their historical stature by playing in their ninth Super Bowl and winning their sixth. That was it, I thought, Tom Brady had all the accolades and money that he could ever want, and he will likely retire at the top. Of course, what we mortals would choose for ourselves wasn't for him. When New England did not renew his contract, instead of retiring he went to Tampa Bay for the 2020 season.

What Tom Brady did yesterday at the Super Bowl (Bucs 31, Chiefs 9)--winning his 7th ring in 10 appearances--was mind-boggling. For perspective a quarterback who wins two championships is normally a lock for the Hall of Fame. Even those who "only" win one, such as Aaron Rodgers of the Packers and Drew Brees of the Saints, will probably make the HOF.

Rather than debase ourselves as fan-boys in the face of unparalleled greatness, we can just make lame jokes about Tom Brady, e.g.:

Seriously, you think Tom Brady isn’t subject to the laws of mortality? Not trying to be Debbie Downer here, but let’s be real — when Brady is 60, he’s going to be an ordinary quarterback...

Tell you this, kids: Brady isn’t training on crap food and chemical sugar swill. In the postgame locker room, Brady’s teammates probably poured kombucha over his head.