-Remind yourself that it is not the future or what has passed that afflicts you, but always the present- Marcus Aurelius
When I’m in Boston my favorite breakfast eatery is The Sweet Life. It’s also where Stevie Mac, the biggest Tom Brady booster I’ve ever met, works. Steve has taken pictures with Tom Brady’s whole family. Sports is his passion. Especially football. So I said ‘Hey Stevie. You are always talking about football, you know a lot. How do you feel about Tom Brady winning the Super Bowl with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers? Steve said this:
“It’s FANtastic. It should have happened sooner. Y’know. Most people don’t know this but Belichick held Brady back. After winning those first three Super Bowls with Dion Branch and Troy Brown. Belichick wouldn’t re-up Branch, who was the Super Bowl MVP the year before and traded him to the Seattle Seahawks for basically nothing. He gave Brady Randy Moss for one year. Moss was great for that one year but that season was at the tail end of his career. He mostly gave Brady nothing. He had the GOAT QB year after year and gave him guys that wouldn’t even make the roster on another team much less start. Listen, after he shanked Dion Branch and traded him Brady was left with Reche Caldwell, Jabbar Gaffney, and Doug Gabriel. Who? Yeah, Horton hears a who is better known than any of those guys. The next year is 2007. The Randy Moss year. Brady set records that year. They go to the Super Bowl and lose to the Giants because Mr. Defensive genius Belichick’s defense lets Eli Manning March down the field and score. Brady is injured the next year. In 2010 Brady is saddled with an aging Wes Welker, a beat-up Dion Branch who had been cut by the Seahawks, and some guy named Brandon Tate. Just consider Tate another “who.” In 2011 Brady is stuck with Dion Branch and Wes Welker while Belichick tries to retread a worn-out Chad Ochocinco. Chad doesn’t last the season. 2012 Brady has Wes Welker, Brandon Lloyd, and Danny Woodhead to work with. Those are his receivers. Really. I’m serious here. In 2013 it’s Julian Edelman, an injured Danny Amendola, and Aaron Dobson, another “who.” I could go on and on. Brady won 6 Super Bowls in New England not with All-Star receivers, but with who’s. That’s on Belichick, and what he did to the team by not playing Malcolm Butler in the Super Bowl against the Eagles. That’s criminal. He dressed the guy but would not play him. Dressed him to embarrass him in front of his family and friends and all the fans. Why? Because Malcolm Butler got into it with his son Steve. That’s Belichick.
I’m glad that Tom is finally with a real head coach. A coach who doesn’t think it’s all about him. A coach who keeps his players and treats them like men. They should win it all again this year. Back to back. If Brady is there for a third year they will probably win it again. Arians might go down as the first coach in NFL to win 3 Super Bowls in a row. I kind of wish Tom had left earlier because the Patriots never appreciated him the way they should have. The Patriots were 7-9 the year before Brady started and 7-9 the year after he left. What does that tell ya? The future is the present and presently Tom Brady is with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. The sky is the limit.