ABC6 News Desk
- Tom Brady is back in New England.
- As he arrived at the Bucs’ team hotel, he received a hero’s welcome and it couldn’t be more soft.
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Tom Brady will play his first-career game against the New England Patriots on Sunday Night Football. You know the storyline.
The greatest quarterback of all-time played 20 years with Bill Belichick in Foxborough and won six Super Bowls. On March 17, 2020, the day before his contract with the Patriots expired, Brady announced that he would not re-sign with the team for the 2020 season.
As claims of him being “too old” or “washed up” circulated, the then 43-year-old went south and joined the Buccaneers. Tampa Bay won the Super Bowl last year and returns nearly its entire roster for 2021.
Now, for the first time ever, Brady will play at Gillette Stadium in a different uniform. Tickets for the “homecoming,” of sorts, broke a regular-season high for New England and the average ticket price sits around $1,100.
Obviously, it’s a big deal.
The question, however, is whether Brady will be celebrated as a hero or traitor upon his return. More than likely, his former home fans will continue to celebrate him as the former.
In fact, we already know that to be true. When TB12 and the Bucs arrived in the northeast on Saturday, the team — really just Tom, rather — was welcomed back with open arms.
A group of Patriots fans stood outside of the team hotel and greeted Brady with loud cheers.
https://twitter.com/IanSteeleABC6/status/1444459769167818752?s=20
While Brady means a lot to Patriots fans, and rightly so, waiting outside of his hotel to sing his praises is soft. He is no longer your quarterback.
Give him a well-deserved ovation upon arriving to the field before the game, and then move on. Patriots fans can choose to live in the nostalgia, which it seems like they will, or they can move on, thank Brady for what he did for the region, and then move on to rooting your team to victory.
Don’t be soft, Pats fans. Don’t do it.