Brady Legend
- Thread starter mrpickem
- Start date
Frank Costanza
Co-Inventor of the Man's Bra
About the biggest gut punch for a Pats homer. Not unexpected, I guess, but just never thought Kraft would let this happen. Ultimately, it was something that all parties agreed upon.
Above and beyond Brady's athletic prowess and unparalleled achievements, he was, and is, a genuinely very good guy. Never put anyone above himself inside the Gillette locker room. Stories were oft-repeated by free-agent signees who got approached by Brady during OTA with the unsolicited greeting, "Hi, I'm Tom. Welcome to the Patriots". And then there are stories like this:
FOXBOROUGH, Mass. -- After 20 seasons covering quarterback Tom Brady and the New England Patriots, a lot of things come to mind about the experience.
A moment outside the players' parking lot at Gillette Stadium, on Christmas Eve 2018, sums up what was appreciated as much as anything.
It was quiet that Monday, in the wake of a 24-12 win over the Buffalo Bills the day before, and two visitors had joined me -- my then 9-year-old daughter and 6-year-old son. They were on school vacation and would be my filming assistants for a few hours.
The family van was parked, and as we walked to the entrance, a car with tinted windows was turning in that direction. It had the shiniest door handles. It ran so quietly you could hardly hear it coming. I had caught it out of the corner of my eye, told the kids to move out of the middle, before it stopped to our left. The tinted window rolled down to reveal the identity of the driver.
"Hey, guys. Are you ready for Christmas?" Tom Brady asked.
What unfolded from there was something I was quite familiar with in Brady's presence -- a wide-ranging interview. But this one was different. He was asking the questions. To my kids.
"What are some activities you like? What is your favorite subject? Excited for vacation?"
We don't truly know the athletes we cover; we can only draw an impression of them through our mostly limited interactions. Those usually take place in front of lockers or with the athletes behind lecterns. Brady was often gracious with his time, although as the demands on him grew as his stardom did, those moments occurred less often.
When they did, they mostly focused on family and kids, which is why the parking-lot encounter highlighted something I later shared with him: As much as his excellence on the football field was a pleasure to chronicle, it mattered that the person accomplishing those feats seemed to be someone with high integrity, a superstar on the field who also cared greatly about being a supportive husband and father when no one was watching.
Tom Brady's out of New England, but his kindness leaves lasting impression on this reporter
Above and beyond Brady's athletic prowess and unparalleled achievements, he was, and is, a genuinely very good guy. Never put anyone above himself inside the Gillette locker room. Stories were oft-repeated by free-agent signees who got approached by Brady during OTA with the unsolicited greeting, "Hi, I'm Tom. Welcome to the Patriots". And then there are stories like this:
FOXBOROUGH, Mass. -- After 20 seasons covering quarterback Tom Brady and the New England Patriots, a lot of things come to mind about the experience.
A moment outside the players' parking lot at Gillette Stadium, on Christmas Eve 2018, sums up what was appreciated as much as anything.
It was quiet that Monday, in the wake of a 24-12 win over the Buffalo Bills the day before, and two visitors had joined me -- my then 9-year-old daughter and 6-year-old son. They were on school vacation and would be my filming assistants for a few hours.
The family van was parked, and as we walked to the entrance, a car with tinted windows was turning in that direction. It had the shiniest door handles. It ran so quietly you could hardly hear it coming. I had caught it out of the corner of my eye, told the kids to move out of the middle, before it stopped to our left. The tinted window rolled down to reveal the identity of the driver.
"Hey, guys. Are you ready for Christmas?" Tom Brady asked.
What unfolded from there was something I was quite familiar with in Brady's presence -- a wide-ranging interview. But this one was different. He was asking the questions. To my kids.
"What are some activities you like? What is your favorite subject? Excited for vacation?"
We don't truly know the athletes we cover; we can only draw an impression of them through our mostly limited interactions. Those usually take place in front of lockers or with the athletes behind lecterns. Brady was often gracious with his time, although as the demands on him grew as his stardom did, those moments occurred less often.
When they did, they mostly focused on family and kids, which is why the parking-lot encounter highlighted something I later shared with him: As much as his excellence on the football field was a pleasure to chronicle, it mattered that the person accomplishing those feats seemed to be someone with high integrity, a superstar on the field who also cared greatly about being a supportive husband and father when no one was watching.
Tom Brady's out of New England, but his kindness leaves lasting impression on this reporter
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