Newsmaker: Tom Brady — The final whistle

I have tried to watch ‘American’ football. I find it difficult to be a fan as I believe in the kind of football that requires a great level of skill, very little razzmatazz and putting the ball between posts. Soccer, the Americans call it.

When I do watch a game played by men with oval shaped balls, it’s rugby — the Six Nations tournament kicks off this weekend, a competition of muscle and mud from 15 players on a side determined to get the leather over the line.

But the National Football League is a whole other level. Watching a game that is supposed to be 60 minutes of play, extending into nearly four hours, does my head in. Four quarters of 15 minutes stretches into an eternity of replays, cheerleaders, more replays, adverts, more replays, more adverts and more replays.

It is the ultimate television sport for broadcasters, which is why it consumes most of the airwaves for most US broadcasters between the first week of September and the Super Bowl in early February. And that one of the burning issues of the sport is who will perform at the half-time gig at the Super Bowl says much about the game. And those who watch it and consume every tackle, every throw, every yard gained, every play, kick and throw — plus the career statistics of every player — know that the figures racked up by Tom Brady are simply the best.

Period.

Most career wins as a quarterback: 263.

Most touchdowns passes (regular and postseason): 661.

Most passing touchdowns in one quarter: 5.

Most completions in a single Super Bowl: 43.

Most career Super Bowl completions: 277

Most times to have played in a Super Bowl: 10.

Most Super Bowl Wins: 7.

The trappings of his career include a marriage to Brazilian supermodel Gisele Bundchen and he is the father of three children.

And now, at the age of 44, Brady has announced his retirement from the game where it is actually possible to be a professional footballer and never have to touch the ball — that is if you’re a Defensive blocker and your only job on the field is to stop the biggest brute of a guy opposite you making any space for the likes of Brady and other quarterbacks to throw and move the ball.

But there has been no quarterback like Brady. Ever.

The native of San Mateo, California, known by fans as ‘Terrific Tom’ has had the most successful and remarkable career in the game. Ever.

After two seasons with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, he’s calling time after 22 seasons in the hardest and most physically punishing game ever dreamt up by man other than outright hand-to-hand physical combat. Maybe wrestling, but it may be rigged. Maybe cage fighting, but even then that only lasts for minutes, not four quarters every week, week in, week out against an opposition side that might have five tonnes of sheer muscle lined up opposite you every time you get the ball. And in those split seconds where the ball is snatched back to you, you must look, decipher what’s unfolding, evade the onrushing players, and throw a pitch-perfect pass upfield.

And no one was better than Brady. Ever.

He previously played for the New England Patriots for 20 seasons and his season in 2007 was one of the greatest single seasons ever by a quarterback. Ever.

He is known for his intelligence as a quarterback, his accurate passing, and his ability to lead his team to wins in championship games.

Even at school, his innate talents were instantly recognisable. He was headed for a college career and there was little doubt that he would make the NFL proper.

When it comes to the college game, played on Saturdays and attracting millions of views, but now to the same extent as the professional games played on Sundays and Mondays, Brady struggled — at least on the highest standards that he would set later in his pro career. He was good, not great, at the University of Michigan — one of the leading lights in the junior game.

Professional scouts weren’t overly impressed and, after three seasons.

The NFL draft is a made-for-sports channels event that brings together every top-rate college player who are picked in turn by the 32 NFL franchises. And yes, they are franchises — teams owned by billionaire businessmen who have shown little loyalty to the city where they might be based, moving them if need be to better markets. Loyalty is the dollar, not the fan.

In the 2000 NFT draft, Brady was the 199th pick, drafted by the New England Patriots. There are still scouts, coaches and teams that are kicking themselves over the other 198 picks knowing now that Brady turned out to be the best player. Ever. Six other quarterbacks went before him in the draft. Only the most diehard of sports fans would be hard-pressed to name one of them. Ever.

Even if he didn’t make it as a footballer, he could still have had a decent career in the other great American sport of Baseball. He was actually drafted by the Montreal Expos as a catcher — in cricketing terms the equivalent of wicketkeeper. Incidentally, the owners of the Montreal Expos baseball franchise couldn’t make money in Canada’s second-largest city, and the franchise packed up and moved to Washington, DC — which underscores that most professional sports in the US are about the dollar, not the supporter.

At the beginning of his rookie year for the Patriots, Tom was the fourth string quarterback, hardly getting a look in. Just a few minutes to get him used to the atmosphere in the mega stadiums and all of the razzmatazz.

In his second season, the starting quarterback, Drew Bledsoe, got hurt. It was an opportunity that Brady would not miss, leading the Patriots to the playoffs and their first Super Bowl win. He was then the youngest ever quarterback to win a Super Bowl — a record he’s since lost.

The rest is history — if you can say that of a period that has stretched from the turn of the millennium up to now.