At Monday’s glitzy Opening Night, Tom Brady’s eyes grew misty when he was asked to identify his hero. (“My dad,” he said.) At Tuesday’s more prosaic interview session in a ballroom at the JW Marriott, he mentioned that his mom hadn’t been to a game this season. But Galynn Brady, her son said, was planning to attend the Super Bowl.
Shortly thereafter, Tom Curran of CSN New England reported that Brady’s mother “has been dealing with a health issue for the past 18 months.” She’s said to be doing better. The illness hasn’t been disclosed.
The word Boston media types keep using to describe the New England quarterback is “emotional,” and Brady concedes the point. “There are different emotions every season,” he said, making it clear that this was different from his first 16 NFL seasons, that Super Bowl No. 7 isn’t the same as Nos. 1-6. But the word he never mentions or even acknowledges is the invented one on every mind – Deflategate.
Technically speaking, this is the second Brady Super Bowl that has had the matter of underinflated footballs hanging over it. The first came in 2015, when the matter was barely a week old – Deflategate arose in the wake of that season’s AFC championship game – and nobody knew was sure what was what. Two years on, we’ve seen what should have been a fairly trivial incident spiral into the whale that all but swallowed the NFL whole.
The game’s most famous player has seen his imaged tarnished, probably beyond repair. (If he wasn’t involved, why did he trash his cellphone?) The commissioner who dared to dock the game’s most famous player saw his already-shaky stewardship rocked. The suspension was appealed. The appeal was granted. Then the suspension was upheld. It seemed bound for the Supreme Court, which surely has weightier matters to hear, when Brady finally said enough.
There’s thought now that his mother’s health had something to do with Brady’s decision. As we know, he missed the season’s first four games. (The Patriots won three of them.) He was as good as ever after his return, which – given that he’s about the best quarterback this league has seen – is saying something. Since October, this Super Bowl has loomed as Brady’s manifest destiny, and he here is, about to face the Falcons in the game bearing Roman numerals. But he comes, at least for public consumption, bearing not malice but a basket of deep feelings.
“You just have different things that your family goes through throughout the course of your life,” he said. “It has been a challenging year for my family for some personal reasons. It will be nice to have everyone here watching us this weekend. My mom and dad, they have been so supportive my entire life and it is nice to be here to show them and try to make them proud.”
Then: “This year my mom hasn’t been to a game this season and my dad has been to one. It is very atypical. They are going to be here this weekend, which I am excited about, so it will be nice to see everybody. I have a big group coming.”
Sympathy for Brady, it must be said, hasn’t always been the easiest sell. He was a Super Bowl MVP at 24. He was a three-time champion at 28. His first child was born to Bridget Moynahan, an actress. He’s married to Gisele Bundchen, among the most super of super models. If he’s not the most handsome male athlete of his time, it’s only because there’s Cristiano Ronaldo.
Therein was the tangle: The guy who had everything needed to worry about the psi of footballs? And if you’re saying, “Hey, he’s a competitor, and sometimes competitors shade the rules”, then why could he never bring himself to speak that very sentence? (His little-boy-lost denials were laugh-out-loud funny.)
In New England, this season has been dubbed The Tom Brady Revenge Tour, which sounds cute until you ask: Revenge for what? His league found him culpable of … something. After protesting his innocence, he wound up accepting the suspension. (Roger Goodell at his Wednesday press session: “There was a violation.”) Can there be righteous indignation for the not-exactly-righteous?
This was Brady when asked Wednesday about Goodell and Deflategate: “I’m focused on this game and the importance to our team. We’ve worked really hard to get to this point and the attention should be on this game and it’s been a fun week to prepare for a great opponent. It’s going to be a great game.”
(Quite the strategy. Deflate, then deflect.)
It should be said that, among Patriots over these many years, Brady has never been regarded as the Pretty Boy. He’s universally described as a hard worker, a great teammate, a pro’s pro. As much as the Pats might insist this Super Bowl isn’t just about Tom, it largely is. The crowds around various podiums to hear his every vanilla utterance have been massive.
On Wednesday, Brady mentioned that he’ll make eye contact with his family during warmups Sunday — “I scout out (seat location) when I have all my tickets” — and said the moment “will be as special as it has ever been.” Again, that seemed subtext to the bigger themes: Illness, suspension, triumph over adversity.
But here’s the thing. The Falcons aren’t playing for revenge. They’re not playing to rub Roger Goodell’s nose in anything. They’re playing for themselves. Just because this has become Tom Brady’s Super Bowl doesn’t mean Tom Brady has to win it.
About the Author
