I'm not the type of person to like people or things immediately. Most people assume I fell in love with Tom Brady at first sight, but I didn't. After the Joe Montana years (Montana was my first QB crush until I started crushing on my classmates who were QBs...hahah), I actually stopped watching pro football all together. I was a cheerleader from 5th grade to about 9th grade, but gave up cheerleading for ASB. Football (and sports in general) was still very much part of my formative years since I was always at games and football players often got elected into ASB positions (that WAS a popularity contest). Fast forward to graduating from college (UCI did NOT have a football team, so I spent my time mastering the art of failing classes) and...BAM! My beloved Albert reintroduces me to pro football.
Albert thinks it's weird to call yourself a football fan without claiming a team (I think he'll give you a pass if you're a gambler because you need to stay partial). He asked what my team was and I said the 49ers, but I wasn't able to name one player on that team at the time (2007). He suggested that if I claim a team, I should probably know some players. Made sense to me, so that's how I got hooked every Sunday into watching football trying to learn teams, players, coaches, etc.
The names coming out of every sports commentator's mouth...Tom Brady, Bill Belichick, and the Patriots. That season, there was the whole Spygate scandal and the Patriots going undefeated in the regular season. Being the deliberative person that I am, I didn't want to claim to be a Tom Brady fan that whole season for fear of being called a band-wagoner and I didn't know much about him other than people either really loved him or really hated him. To make a long story short, the Patriots went undefeated in the regular season only to lose to the New York Giants in the Super Bowl. That was a heartbreaker....but I officially became a Tom Brady fan that night. Sure, it's easy to be a fan when the team wins...not so much when they lose.
2007: Lose to the NY Giants in the Super Bowl
2008: Tom Brady has a season-ending injury in the FIRST EFFING WEEK.
2009: Patriots are one and out in the Wildcard playoffs
2010 (aka this past Sunday): Patriots are one and out in the Divisional playoffs
Fmylife. I think everyone and their momma knew how much I wanted Brady to get to the Super Bowl and win. I watched in horror as that turned to shit at the hands of (who else?) my protege Mark Sanchez. The feeling I've had all week is indescribable. I'm doing all my best to shake it off, but I feel like I'm somewhere worse than Sad & Disappointed and not as severe as Depressed. WHAT THE FUCK HAPPENED??? Now that I'm a couple days removed from the game, I can accept that the Jets' defense rocked the shit out of the Patriots (the Pats have a young defense who ranked 24th out of 32 teams). And, probably the hardest to admit, the Pats were out coached.
Monday morning, I got pity looks from coworkers who know about my Tom Brady obsession. I even got an email from Pam, who moved back to Louisiana, urging me to "get of bed...brush it off...life goes on". She's a Saints fan, so I knew she could genuinely relate. Monday and Tuesday I could barely eat. Yesterday, tears started welling up out of nowhere. Was I really crying over football? Yes. Well, Sunday definitely over football. Yesterday was a combination of fasting, being tired, and thinking about going to Vegas for the Super Bowl. I could barely even utter the word football or anything having to do football until this morning when my mom asked why I took my Brady jersey down (it was hanging on my door as motivation to get in shape). I didn't go to the gym at all week because all I could think was, "What's the point? Brady isn't going to be in the Super Bowl."
I took to this blog to help write this crazy sadness out of my system because I do want to be more positive this year. But I am so, so heartbroken by Tom Brady not getting to and winning a Super Bowl. 2011 will be his 12th season and he'll be 34 years old by the time the season starts. People are already questioning whether he has it in him to win another ring. My answer...hell yes he has it in him, but the rest of the team needs to get with the program...especially the defense. No more being man-handled by other teams, especially the Jets!
...and with that my friends, for better or worse, I've already put most of my football eggs in the Brady Basket for 2011.
P.S. Officially, the 49ers are still my team. I can name players and even tell you a bit about their new Head Coach. I'll put a few football eggs in that basket as well. However, until they listen to me and get a good-looking, outrageously talented poster boy of a QB, then Tom Brady will be covered more. FYI...Tom Brady is from San Mateo and was also a 49er fan :)
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