Brady Blessings

TOM BRADY BLESSINGS

 

Americans should find time on Thanksgiving Day, 2015, to count blessings, big and small. And a big blessing for which New England Patriot fans should be grateful is a 6-foot-4, 230-pound quarterback named Tom Brady.

And in this, Brady’s 16^th season as a Patriot, Tom is having his most terrific season yet. Contrast the 38-year-old Patriot quarterback’s stats with those of Denver Bronco Peyton Manning—a 2015 version of “The One Hoss Shay.” (Just Google it.)

Always a competitor, Brady seems to be enthralled by the challenge of maintaining All-Star form for years to come. His disciplined training regimen and diet are designed to extend his gridiron longevity in record ways.

So when WILL he retire? Not for a while, yet.

Might he retire next February after a Super Bowl win? There is that temptation to go out on top, like Norm Van Brocklin did after the Philadelphia Eagles won the 1960 NFL title. But look for Brady to return next year, so we can again include him among the blessings counted during Thanksgiving-2016.

It’s tough to pick the right time to quit. Running backs Jim Brown and Barry Sanders retired when they were at the tops of their games. Did they ever regret it? Brown probably did. He toyed with returning to the NFL with the Oakland Raiders when he was well past 40.

But quitting too late might be worse than quitting too early, because that extra season usually results in injury and a tarnished legacy. Think Y.A. Tittle, Johnny Unitas, O.J Simpson, Joe Namath, Dan Fouts, Troy Aikman, Dan Marino, Jim Kelly, and Brett Favre.

And “One Hoss Shay” Manning.

May Brady never suffer such a fate.

Then there is Green Bay’s Aaron Rodgers, who may be on the precipice of oblivion. The 36-year-old Packer quarterback looked terrible during a recent home loss to DETROIT, his team’s third straight loss.

Interestingly, many Packer fans blamed Rodgers’ woes not on age, but on distractions created by his Hollywood actress/girlfriend Olivia Munn. This follows a tradition of blaming quarterback woes on lady friends. Recall the extraordinary attention paid to Dallas Cowboy quarterback Tony Romo’s then-girlfriend Jessica Simpson. Eventually their relationship couldn’t take the pressure and dissolved, much as did the relationship between Cowboy predecessor Troy Aikman and country singer Lorrie Morgan.

Certainly Brady’s wife, supermodel Gisele Bundchen, took some blame for previous Patriot problems, but with New England currently atop the football world, Gisele is now feeling the love from Patriot Nation.

This raises a question. When does a supermodel retire? Gisele seems to be going strong. Her discipline vis-à-vis exercise and diet may in fact complement and support Brady’s, and help account for his longevity. Give the girl some credit!

Beyond superstars and supermodels, what about supercoaches? What about New England head coach Bill Belichick? The 63-year-old Pats mentor is the third oldest in the NFL, behind N.Y. Giant Tom Coughlin and Seattle Seahawk Pete Carroll. What if Bill decides to go out on top like San Francisco’s Bill Walsh did? We can only hope that Belichick is staying fit, ala Brady and Bundchen. May he wear his hoody on the sidelines for years to come.

And when Turkey Day comes a year from now, may we continue to count our Blessings that start with B … Brady, Bundchen, and Belichik.

And Butler (Malcolm). Always and forever.

Happy Thanksgiving!

MISSOURI MACHINATIONS

MISSOURI MACHINATIONS

 

NEWS ITEM — University of Missouri president Tim Wolfe recently resigned in the face of growing protests by African-American students, the threat of a walkout by faculty, and a strike by football players who said his administration failed to combat campus racism.

Ousted!

I was going to write about Tom Brady, but events in the “Show Me State” compelled otherwise.

The first headlines re: Wolfe’s resignation raised questions about what egregious conduct had required him to step down. It turns out that his crime was “inadequate responsiveness” to campus activists on the issue of combatting racism at the University of Missouri in Columbia. And the tipping point came when the African-American gridsters at Mizzou threatened not to play football unless Wolfe quit.

There are fascinating aspects to all this.

Is there rampant racism at Mizzou? I don’t know. No doubt there have been incidents of bad behavior. That’s inevitable at any large university campus. Let light be shined on the whole situation and let the truths emerge. And a measure of skepticism is often appropriate when dealing with emotional campus activists, including those in Columbia.

The football component of the Mizzou equation underscores the power that scholarship athletes can wield when they so-choose. Faculty activists had earlier called for Wolfe’s resignation, to no avail, but when the football Tigers weighed in, Wolfe walked out.

Mizzou Coach Gary Pinkel tweeted his support for his players, but according to USA TODAY that support did not mean he wanted Wolfe to resign.

With Missouri in last place in the Southeastern Conference, Pinkel surely didn’t need the distraction. Time will tell if getting involved in campus politics unites or divides the Tiger gridsters.

But the events in Columbia affirm the potential power that football players can wield, and athletes (and coaches!) around the country certainly took notice.

Last year the football players at Northwestern University sought (unsuccessfully) to unionize, and that may have inspired whoever led the Tiger players to revolt.

The Missouri machinations probably revived wistful memories for grey-haired activists who came of age during the sixties, when student strikes were commonplace. As many of these liberal activists often lamented the extent of university resources invested in a violent male-only sport like football, it’s ironic that a FOOTBALL team achieved the campus activist dream—ousting a university president.

Speaking of the power that football has over presidents, consider that no U.S. President would EVER give a prime time speech or national address if it conflicted with Monday Night Football. Such a President would likely end up like President Wolfe.

Ousted!