The Day We Thought We Would Never See. Tom Brady Retires.

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 Written by: Matt Ferreira




 Many thought the day would never come, but at the age of 44 years and 179 days, Tom Brady has announced his retirement from the National Football League.



 Brady spent 22 years in the league from his first in 2000 in which he played one game until he lost to the Los Angeles Rams last weekend. Over the course of his career Brady won seven super bowls, more than any other player or franchise in the history of the sport. Brady is the all time leader in passing yards, games started, regular season wins by a quarterback, passing touchdowns, division titles, playoff game started, playoff wins, playoff touchdowns, playoff passing yards, Super Bowl Appearances, Super Bowl Wins, Super Bowl MVPs, Super Bowl touchdowns, and Super Bowl passing yards. I could go on and on about his stats and awards but everyone knows about those, so I am going to go a little more personal.


 In my last article I wrote about what is like being a kid from the Massachusetts suburbs watching David Ortiz play baseball. I am getting chills even writing that Tom Brady is retiring, I have been scrolling through all my social media feeds just reading it over and over hoping that each report is fake. It felt like something that would never happen, he has spent more years on the Patriots than I have been alive. I was spoiled to watch Tom Brady in New England, not only the super bowls, but the overall greatness in which he possessed. The confidence, cockiness, trash talking, whatever he did every kid in New England wanted to do as well. 


 I was at Tom Brady’s last game as a New England Patriot and watched him throw his last pass in a Patriot’s uniform into the hands of Logan Ryan. At the time I thought, no way he leaves the Patriots on such a sour note. Then he did. The day Tom Brady was announced as a Tampa Bay Buccaneer it felt like the world was ending. The perfect duo of Brady and Belichick had gone away before our eyes.


But once again Tom did amazing things in New England, something about even being in the same stadium as such a person was amazing. Watching him run out the tunnel next to Matt Cassel, Jimmy G, and Jarrett Stidham and screaming "Let's Go" and a fist pump was something I could watch on loop for the rest of my life. The number 12 will forever be ingrained in my head as Tom Brady and the New England Patriots.


 Once again I thought Brady could not possibly go out without winning another Super Bowl, yet here we are. It all makes sense, the final episode of the Man in the Arena documentary by ESPN got pushed back and that was when I figured it would be Tom’s final season. From here out, watching football will not be the same. Not seeing Tom dominate week in and week out then watching everyone saying that he is too old, to just see him go back and dominate again was something we will never see in sports again.


 Writing this, it still does not feel real and I don’t know if I will be able to believe it until it comes from the mouth of the goat himself. From a sixth round draft pick to being the greatest of all time, Brady showed that anything is possible. An easy first ballot Hall of Famer and for a while was the only active player with his picture on the walls of a building in Canton, Ohio.


Tom, thank you for all the amazing years in New England and Tampa. The memories I have from being a kid and going to preseason games watching you play one quarter, going to the AFC Championship game agains the Jaguars, all the Super Bowl Championships, the parades in which you held the trophy well above your head on Boylston Street, or throwing the Lombardi from boat to boat, I have many stories to tell my kids, grandkids, and more about how I got to watch the greatest football player of all time.



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