First of all, what a wild Sunday. It's not often matchups like this live up to the hype, but both going into overtime was just bananas. With the Patriots win of course, gleeful New England fans are pointing out that this is Tom Brady's 9th (!!!) Super Bowl appearance, and all the people sick of Tom Brady now get to voice their disdain. I just want to point out that I was hating this motherfucker back in college (because I'm old).
[Begin scene] It's 1999 and a Penn State team that many thought could win the National Championship is coming off a devastating 2-point loss at home to Minnesota. With the Big Ten title and a Rose Bowl berth still possible, a win against visiting Michigan was crucial. At this point, Tom Brady was a relative unknown and was only pulling average ass for a Division I QB1. Penn State led 27-17 late in the 4th quarter and I was feeling it. Until this happened:
(TD scoring plays)
Little did I know this was just the beginning of the Tom Brady torment. As a Steelers fan there have been quite a few PIT-NE matchups in the Tom Brady era. Let's check the results:
That graphic is a little hard to read, but fuck, that's a lot of "L"s in the result column, including 3 in the AFC championship game, two of which were at Pittsburgh. Goddammit. Anyone who calls this a rivalry thinks a hooker and her heavy-handed pimp have a competitive rivalry too.
But hey, I'm a (sometimes) rational human being and have to give credit where credit is due. Bill Belichick knew what he had in Tom Brady. In Brady's rookie year, Belichick kept FOUR quarterbacks. That is insane when you think about that now. Belichick was not going to release him and sign him to the practice squad and risk losing him on a waiver claim from another team. He knew what he had in Brady before anyone else did. He wasn't going to make the mistake a team like Atlanta did in trading Brett Favre to the Packers. One of my favorite Tom Brady stories is that after his first SB win, Tara Reid had her agent contact Tom Brady's agent to set up a date. Tom Brady turned her down. He knew he could do better (and did). For you younger Millennials out there who don't know who Tara Reid is, she's a washed up actress who's best known for playing a high school kid who got admitted to Cornell in the teen movie "American Pie." In hindsight, the Cornell admission is probably the least believable thing about the movie.
All this hate for Tom Brady has a word for it: respect. Think about it, he's been so good for so long that people are sick of him and hate him. I don't hate Indiana's shitty football team and I don't hate the male porn star with a 5-inch penis. There's no reason to hate either.
There was no reason to hate this guy:
But man, people hate this guy:
...and they REALLY hate this motherfucker:
So respect to Tom Brady, we're not all that different you and me. Just a couple of Big Ten grads trying to make it in this world. Really debatable who's winning at this point.
