Just a few months ago, golf was at its pinnacle. A rather unknown, Trevor Immelman, had battled the great Tiger Woods on his favorite course and beat him at his own game. Sergio Garcia had decided to toss that monkey to the curb, winning what some consider the "fifth major" at the Players and giving people hope in the Spaniard. Then came the incredible U.S. Open, that had the definitive athletic being, Woods, battling a guy that some thought should be cleaning his swimming pool, Rocco Mediate. Tiger needed every ounce of fight to beat Rocco, and as enjoyable as it was, we all knew even if Tiger won, we lost.We had to watch Woods limp around the course, knowing something was wrong even when the news was uncertain. Golfers could sense with every wince and ache that this was the last time we'd probably see Woods in '08 after he had famously announced the Grand Slam was "easily within reach."
When Tiger announced he was done for '08, we all attempted to pump ourselves up for the rest of the season. "Oh, it won't be so bad, it will give someone else a chance to win." It was a weak attempt to lie to everyone that could hear it and after a wet British Open that had us rooting for Greg freaking Norman to win (would you ever imagine a more random situation at this day and age?) golf hit the skids.
The elephant in the room after the Tom Brady injury is just that -- how will the NFL survive without its own personal poster boy? Sure, there are guys like Peyton Manning and LaDainian Tomlinson who push the marketing envelope with their helmets off, but nobody quite demands the cameras and interviews like Brady. He's is the Tiger of the NFL, complete with the hot girl and the picture perfect smile.
Like Bill Simmons said so eloquently in his somber mailbag today, "Along with (Larry) Bird and Bobby Orr, he's the only Boston star in my lifetime who had a 100 percent approval rating with his fan base. Hell, even the Boston media liked him, and it hates everybody."
Unlike the PGA Tour, football does not use Brady as a crutch. Without Tiger in the field, even an intelligent sports fan couldn't name 10 guys in any given field. They know Phil Mickelson and Sergio and Vijay Singh, but once they get past the Jim Furyks and Geoff Ogilvys most peoples memory shortens.
No, the NFL doesn't need Brady like golf needs Tiger, but it does need the concept. Brady's Patriots were that team you HAD to root against if you weren't from the Boston area. He has been the quarterbacking version of God over the past few years and even though you respected him and appreciated his talent, dammit you hated how good he was. "What doesn't this guy have?," you'd ask.
Now we don't have that. Nobody is the favorite anymore and nobody, not even the occasional Tony Romo antics, will replace what was here with Brady and his Patriots. Week two will roll by without any problems and week three and four will differentiate between the contenders and pretenders, but that need to gun after the Patriots and all they have will be gone. It's like the pedestal was shortened just a touch.
No matter your loyalty to any team, or how much you wish you could hit every Patriot with the grill of a brand new Hummer H2, a part of you will miss Brady, just like Tiger haters can't wait for his return. Winners want to beat the best, and even though the Super Bowl champion won't be engraved with an asterisk, the '08 season will be remembered for a Brady-less season.
Somewhere, with the U.S. Open trophy nearby, Roger Federer is sizing up a couple of sturdy knee braces.
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
9-09-2008 @ 6:34PM
danny said...
I watch more PGA when Tiger is NOT playing. The media acts as if he is the only one playing and excuse/ignore his frequent F-bombs while criticizing anyone else for coming close to doi ng it.
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9-09-2008 @ 7:01PM
amazo said...
seriously this article is a bit of a reach. this is the first and probably the last time i'll hear this suggestion. tiger tanked golf cuz who really cares about golf other than tiger (mainstream wise). the nfl, on the other hand, is the most popular sport in america, ratings wise. and it's not because of tom brady. most people outside of boston dont "love" to hate brady like people love to hate tiger. brady is a really good qb, but he is not head and shoulders above anyone else in the league like tiger is. if he was, he woulda just finished out that game on one leg, and then declared the season over. the nfl will be just fine. brady going out is just as big as anyone else drafted consensus first round in fantasy football. nothing more.
besides. we dont need brady to hate the patriots.
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9-09-2008 @ 7:36PM
Daniel Allen Butler said...
Oh, please! This situation reminds me of a T-shirt I spotted in 1998, when the mania over the movie "Titanic" was at its nauseating peak: "The ship sank--get over it."
Brady's out for the season. Get over it. The risk of injury is part of playing football, something every team, every player, and every fan understand.
Comparing this situation to the plight of golf w/o Tiger Woods is absurd. Golf is a sport of individuals, by definition it is a team where fan loyalty is given to stars. Football is a team sport--fans are fans of teams, not individuals. They become fans of individual players because of their initial team loyalty. You won't find a Tom Brady fan who is not first a Patriots fan. That sentence holds good for any combination of player and his team you care to mention.
The "elephant in the room," to refer to the blogger's opening premise, is not that NFL football needs Tom Brady and won't be as commecially successful without him, but rather the "sports media" (I refuse to call them "journalists" as there hasn't been a real journalist covering sports in two decades) needs Tom Brady. They need someone to fawn over, to suck up to, to pour accolades upon, in order to "demonstrate" the "depth" of their "sports knowledge" and acumen. Now that columnists, bloggers, and sportscasters will be unable to waste their column inches, bandwidth, and airtime trying to outdo each other in praising Tom Brady, they are faced with an almost insurmountable (for them) challenge: a sudden need to actually do real, responsible sports reporting. Their fear (rightly) is that they will be unable to do so, and will consequently fall flat on their sycophantic faces.
Too damn bad.
All the best,
Daniel Allen Butler
The opinions expressed here are not necessarily those of the management, but they ought to be!
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9-09-2008 @ 9:05PM
robert said...
This article was very frustrating to read.
First, Tom Brady is not the poster boy of the NFL, like Tiger is in the PGA.
If you don't believe me then GOOGLE it, I promise you he's 3rd in line when it comes to the most marketable football players in the NFL. Number 1 is The true QB GOD, he's in New York right now. Hmm, I wonder who that is? 2nd is Peyton Manning. Then comes your boy Brady.
Next, the 2008 season will not be remembered for Tom Brady going down in the first week of a 17 week season (at least outside of Boston.)
A much more interesting story, with intrigue, excitement, drama, grit, determination and ESPN fuel, will take over and we will soon forget the oh so eloquent mailbags of Bill Simmons and his odes to Tom Brady.
Lastly, New England isn't even the team to beat this year, the Giants are.
The Patriots lost the right be called the "team to beat" when they were beaten by New York in the Super Bowl, and lost their undefeated season.
Sorry Patriots fans, this year you were going to come back to earth, and now, your year is officially over.
No undefeated season, no AFC championship, nothing, nada, zilch.
Don't worry though The Celtics will be starting soon. It just stinks that your football team is going to be subpar this year.
I mean you guys looked really bad against the Chiefs.
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9-11-2008 @ 5:42AM
Indyfan said...
Poll must have been a NY Post or even WORSE NY Times deal. While I really like Eli, as far as ability on the field he is a step below Peyton and Brady both physically and upstairs - but he has a lot of company there. He does have a neat demeanor, though, easy to see why you pull for him. Actually all Colts fans do when we choke (as we so often do) in the playoffs - what is this "COVER TWO" Looked like two men (lineback blocked and Strong Safety taking uncharacteritically bad angle) and our "TWO COVERS" were meat. Peyton then figures he needs to do it all on his own and if his usual reliabled could catch and hold onto the ball he might have.
9-11-2008 @ 10:33PM
Mark said...
The Giants sad to say will not be winning anything this year. The ONLY reason they won the SB by 3 points with 39 seconds left is that Brady was hurt going in, NE was playing the Giants (who had nothing to lose) as well as playing for immortality (which I believe it was the immortality part) that got the best of them.
9-09-2008 @ 9:39PM
Lakergregg said...
Shane Who?
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9-09-2008 @ 9:54PM
Jesse said...
What happens next Lebron has a Shaun Livingston type knee injury in a game of horse a month before the season starts? What a streak that would be....
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9-11-2008 @ 2:58AM
McBoston said...
Please, people who have commented that the NFL does not need Tom should wake up and smell the coffee. Ask some women who just started watching football why they started watching the game and for sure you won't hear Brett Favre or Peyton Mannings name come up. It will be of course, Tom Brady. Of course he has been the poster boy for NFL. Does not matter how many goofy commercials Peyton does or how many Hail Mary's Favre throws that actually get caught-Brady is handsome and talented and gives men every reason to hate him. How much more $$$ do you think all the advertisers had to pay because the Patriots with Tom Brady were in the Super Bowl? Much as people don't want to face facts-Brady like Tiger brought in new fans who had never watched the game before. Sorry to say that Brady haters still can't get over their hatred and see that Brady was and still is great for the game and the NFL. Who else could all the haters complain about otherwise? What are the haters going to say now other than good riddance when everyone who made money off of Brady are saying Please Come Back Fast! Shocking that NFL is standing by their clean hit lie but the hatred is deep for people who think Spygate is how the Patriots won every single game last year. The other thing that haters don't like is any team dominating even if they deserve it for the hard work and talent they have. Much easier to say someone else cheated and that's why they won so many games rather than admit that their own team is weak, has poor coaching, too many egos, poor execution etc. NFL is definitely not going to have as many viewers this year because of the absence of Brady and they know it. Anyone else who thinks otherwise is deluded. Find out how much the ratings have gone down after Tiger has left and the same will happen with Brady. It may not be as noticeable to some who are regular fans but the people tracking the TV ratings stats know.
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9-11-2008 @ 5:43AM
castnavy20 said...
Get over yourself Brady Buddha Boy! 90% of the NFL fans were thrilled the cheatin' PATs got what they deserve - no doubt they have it all on tape from the beginning. Let us face it - they were awesome last year BUT COULD NOT SEAL THE DEAL. "Goofy Payton" as you call him (the one that sent you back with tail between legs in AFC Championship year before let his lil' bro Eli in on the fun and PAT the PATs into the ground so we could all enjoy their befuddled faces as they wandered the field followng the game. Hey - least now you have an excuse!
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9-22-2008 @ 4:01PM
nick nagel said...
Tom Brady is over rated and deserves to be injured.
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9-22-2008 @ 4:03PM
nick said...
He's not really that big of an influence in the game. he might be a modern figure in NFL but in the game he has not much imfluence. The pats were doin ok till they lost last night to miami
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