Anyone who follows football knows that the Patriots don’t provide bulletin board material. Bill Belichick doesn’t allow it, and for the most part all of his players buy into the approach. With two weeks between the conference championships and the Super Bowl, life can become extremely boring for reporters and analysts. That is why you can understand how when the tiniest opportunity presented itself on Sunday morning, writers took it and ran with it. These are the comments that Tom Brady made to the 25,000 fans at the Patriots Super Bowl send-off rally:
“I wish I could take all you guys to Indy with us,” Brady told his fans. “We’re going down there, and we’re going down there for one reason. We’re going to give it our best and hopefully we have a lot more people at our party next weekend.”
On Sunday night and Monday morning, every New York newspaper and news station was buzzing about how Brady had guaranteed a Patriots victory. CBS New York called the comment “bulletin board material.” Gary Myers of the NY Daily News says Brady “should know better.” Steve Serby of the NY Post says the “Giants will make Brady pay for planning Patriots victory party.” Seriously?
Brady was asked about the comment on Sunday night, to which he responded: “Well, it was a pep rally. People were pretty excited.”
The fact that Brady’s innocent comment is literally driving the news cycle in New York this morning goes to show you how rare it is that a Patriot player would do anything to hint at a victory. When 25,000 people give up their day just to cheer for you as you board a bus, you have to give them something to be excited about. Nobody wants to hear that you’re going to Indianapolis to try to win a Super Bowl, and if you don’t — well — oopsies.
When Mario Manningham said he hopes Julian Edelman covers him and Justin Tuck said Brady’s chuckle before Super Bowl 42 is what cost the Pats in 2008, it wasn’t national news. That’s because it is expected from the Giants. If New York wins Super Bowl 46, it will now be because Brady “guaranteed” the Patriots would come home victorious. What’s that? The Giants are a more balanced team and should probably be favored? The New York tabloids didn’t hear you.
