At this point, the biopic of Thomas Edward Patrick Brady, Jr. would have to be a trilogy, wouldn't it? Or maybe a long-form, 12-part series on HBO Max.
How many Brady's are we going to need? Childhood Brady, Michigan Brady, First 3 Super Bowls Brady, Wandering the Wilderness (the two losses to the Giants) Brady, the Paterfamilias (and 4 more Super Bowl wins) Brady.
Luckily, Hollywood is full of handsome men of all ages.
We knew about the "Return of the King" last year, we just didn't know exactly when during the 2021 season the Buccaneers would travel to Foxborough. With the release of the NFL's schedule we have a day and time to marry to the place. October 3, 8:20pm. Sunday night. Primetime.
I'm going to guess half the men in New England aged 21-64 have already asked their boss for a vacation day on October 4th and the other half will just call in sick.
Ticket prices almost immediately reached the "If I win Powerball" level and that's the cheap seats, the "nosebleeds."
Trash is already being talked, even if it's just Brady, Sr.
And why not?
The game will feature two of the most competitive and successful men in the history of the sport, men whose stories cannot be told without the other being nominated for best actor in a supporting role. A game like this is what these two men live for; the GOAT QB against the Defensive Genius who shutdown the Bills' K-Gun, the Rams' "Greatest Show on Turf," held an 11-6-0 advantage over Peyton Manning, and pitched a first half shutout against Patrick Mahomes and the Chiefs in an AFC Championship game in Kansas City. The only thing that could top this regular season game would be a rematch in the Super Bowl (a highly unlikely scenario but you know you can't dismiss it, given everything that has come before). This is "Godzilla vs. Kong" (only with way more subtext).
Who plays the hero? Who plays the villain?
The obvious casting decision has the ageless Brady as hero - a Galahad meets Gawain - with the dour, gruff, socially awkward Darth Hoodie as villain. It's never that simple, of course, but look for plenty of those "Return of the King" stories in the run up to the game with Brady coming home to reclaim his crown as the one true King of Foxborough. I guess that makes him more Aragorn than Galahad.
What's the over/under on hero/villain metaphors used by local beat reporters in the week leading up to this game? I've already got Arthurian, Star Wars, and Middle Earth… The Dark Knight? MCU?
Who wants it more?
The device to measure that has not yet been devised.
You know they'll say all the right things before the game (just another game, a game we need to win regardless of the opponent, nothing but respect for Tom/Bill and everything he's done, and blah, blah, blah) and you know the local and national pigskin pundits and bobbleheads will be deconstructing every statement made, every A to every Q, searching for some hidden meaning, a hint at the truth as to why Brady left New England.
Beat Reporter: You once said there was no other quarterback you'd rather have than Tom Brady-
Belichick: Cam Newton is our starting quarterback; do you have any questions about him?
Beat Reporter (pulling at his collar, struggling to breathe): Urk.
Will the game itself live up to the hype, to the historical importance of the moment, to the ticket prices, to the record-setting volume of bitcoin wagered?
Will Brady and Belichick hug it out at midfield after the game?
I can hardly wait.
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