Brady. / Picture: USA TODAY Sports
Quarterback Tom Brady plays at Gillette Stadium for the New England Patriots – but in the jersey of the other team. That was unimaginable for 20 years. On Sunday, however, the most successful football player in NFL history will meet his former team for the first time. At some point it is comparable to Lionel Messi's first game against FC Barcelona. But in US sports? Even experienced reporters cannot think of a suitable category.
“The six Super Bowls, the circumstances of saying goodbye, there's no comparison in America. It just doesn't exist,” said Boston Globe columnist Dan Shaughnessy of Tom Brady's first return to the stadium in over two decades how his second living room was – and then suddenly 18 months ago no longer.
Similarly in the meaning of Messi's departure from Barcelona, albeit chosen by himself, Brady left his second home, Boston, in March 2020. He no longer felt valued, his relationship with coaching guru Bill Belichick was worn out and the bosses wanted guarantees at the age of at that time there was no more for 42 years.
In an upcoming book about the Patriots, which the US media reported on Wednesday, it is said that Belichick refused to say goodbye in person and Brady could only have a phone call with his long-time trainer. Belichick said that was not true – but for the commentators of the sports shows, it is food that is gladly taken in the run-up to the eagerly anticipated game.
On Sunday evening at prime time on the east coast there is now this long unimaginable image for the first time: Brady in the jersey of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers back in the metropolitan area. What makes it even more unbearable for the many fans of the Patriots: He does so as the reigning Super Bowl champion and favorite. While the Patriots missed the play-offs in the first season after their departure and stumbled in the first three games of the season, Brady led his new and until then chronically unsuccessful team to the title in the first year of cooperation against all expectations of the National Football League.
