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You already have your unwavering opinion of Tom Brady and nothing will ever change that. Either he’s a deity among peasants who can do no wrong or he’s a fucking fuckstick who deserves capital punishment even if he cures cancer and adopts all those dogs in the Sara McLachlan commercials. There are very people who fall in between those two points on the spectrum.
I happen to be in the camp who would let Brady punch me in the face just so I could momentarily come in contact with greatness. So when For The Win asked several of Brady’s teammates to tell a story that encapsulates who he is as a player and person, I threw a sock on my bedroom doorknob, pumped a few shots of Jergens moisturizer into my palm, threw on Unchained Melody on the record player, and gave my girlfriend $100 to go piss off for an hour.
Nine players shared stories about the undisputed GOAT (you can read all here), but a few of these stories made my pants tighter. You can find those below.
The following excerpt is from Patriots backup QB, Brian Hoyer.
“The first time I ever met him, I’m a rookie, undrafted quarterback, like fourth on the depth chart and I’m in the quarterback meeting room with Bill O’Brien, who was our offensive coordinator at the time. I think (Brady) walked in to say something to Billy and he stands up and he says, ‘Hey, I’m Tom. It’s nice to meet you.’ And I think that speaks to his character. He’s such a great person. You all get to see how great of a player he is and I think I’m fortunate to get to see how great of a person he is. He’s a great friend, a great father, and a great husband.”
Defensive tackle Lawrence Guy, in his second year with the Patriots added:
“Tom knows everybody on the team’s name. He’ll have a one-on-one conversation with you as soon as you walk through the door to get to know you. As a man, he’s a great individual and as a teammate, he’s a great teammate. He’s a great leader on our team and he shows it by what he does when he walks in the locker room, interacting with everybody and trying to get to know everybody personally.”
Safety Devin McCourty, in his ninth season with New England revealed how Brady’s professionalism has always stuck with him:
“When we played San Francisco in 2016, I want to say it was after we lost to Seattle, we had just traded Jamie Collins and we go to San Fran and I think a lot of people are doubting us and we go out and get a big win. Everybody’s on the plane celebrating, standing up, laughing and joking and you look over at Tom and he’s on his laptop. He got hit in the leg so he’s massaging it, he’s watching film and totally locked in on watching the game we just played. I think that just spoke volumes. He’s always moving on to the next, he’s always preparing. And that’s just how he is day-in and day-out.”
Now if you’ll excuse me, I have some “cleanup” to do.
[h/t For the Win]