Alexandersmap

    Tag: Patriots

    • Tom Brady in Five Quotes

      What do you do with consistent excellence? How do you process it? How do the average masses view the brilliant contribution of the few? Many dismiss it as trickery, cheating, luck, or chance. This minimizes the painful gap of comparison. For others, recognizing that brilliance leads to hate for what it brings: defeat and frustration. Excellence is a mirror, and when we look at it we see our own shortcomings.

      Tom Brady retired. Why is that a surprise? He’s 45 as I write this, won 7 Super Bowl rings for two teams and long ago became the G.O.A.T. for those who celebrate the level of excellence he’s reached. Those who would knock him down a notch or two for perceived slights or for the extreme discipline he lives by grudgingly note the results. This isn’t a guy who does things half-assed.

      When you live in New England, and you’ve lived through the really, really dark days of professional sports in New England when every team was losing in heartbreaking fashion every year from 1987 until 2001, well, you recognize the difference that one or two people can make in a game, or on a team, or in a region. Tom Brady was a sparkplug for New England, and winning became contagious. It became expected. Because the standard was raised, and it remains higher than it was before he rose up to lead that first Super Bowl win in the aftermath of 9/11 for a team called Patriots.

      There are a million Tom Brady quotes out there. I mean, the guy played Pro Football for 22 years; you accumulate a lot of quotes in all that time! But here are five that I found most enlightening about the man. Thanks Tom, it’s been fun seeing excellence on display for so many years:

      “It’s never come easy for me. I don’t think my mind allows me to rest ever. I have, I think, a chip on my shoulder, and some deep scars that I don’t think were healed.”

      “A lot of times I find that people who are blessed with the most talent don’t ever develop that attitude, and the ones who aren’t blessed in that way are the most competitive and have the biggest heart.”

      “I think I have a certain respect for people, you know. And I guess a lot of times I expect that respect to go both ways.”

      “If you waste your time and energy on things that don’t matter in the outcome of the game, then when you get to the game you’re not going to give your teammates the best that you have to offer.”

      “I knew I became a professional when I stop paying attention to what time it was.”

    • LII and Counting

      Super Bowl LII is tonight.  I’ll be 52 myself this year.  For almost 1/3 of my life the Patriots led by Tom Brady and Bill Belichick have been in or contending for the a place in the Super Bowl.  It’s been a memorable run.  Tonight they’ll play in another one.  We all know that it won’t go on forever.  We know that someday they’ll both retire.  Time catches up to all of us eventually, and in sports it seems to happen even faster than in life.

      I watch my dog Bodhi getting older, and I look in the mirror and see it in myself.  There’s something cruel about the lifespan of a dog.  You grow together over the years.  Those first years together are full of energy, discipline, and sometimes anger and frustration.  I’ll always remember the time I planted daffodil bulbs in the garden, sprinkled with bone meal fertilizer.  I came outside later to see Bodhi wagging his tail and my garden looking like a scene out of World War I – large holes dug, dirt and bulbs scattered all over the place.  I questioned having a dog in that moment.  Nowadays I watch Bodhi struggling to stand up and walk up and down stairs, and I wonder how long we’ll have him with us.  I hope for at least one more year, but we’ll see.

      Time is ticking along for all of us, and we’re really only guaranteed this moment.  As I watch Brady get older (on paper anyway), I wonder how long he’ll keep playing.  He’s a major injury or a candid conversation with Giselle away from hanging up the cleats.  Today I’m going to live in the moment, enjoy the Super Bowl for the spectacle it is.  We’ll be with friends and celebrating the Patriots getting there again, and rooting for another win.  And I’ll hope for at least one more year, but we’ll see.