This is old news. So why did a camera shot during Monday Night Football of NFL legend Tom Brady in the Las Vegas Raiders coaches’ booth spark such instant outrage?
It’s taken a 12-hour crash course of therapy to process, but here’s what I’ve come to. With that one image, reality became too real for me and a legion of Brady Bros. It said that, despite our repeated insistence on delusion, he’s not coming back.
This wasn’t even the showcase MNF tilt. The Raiders game against the Los Angeles Chargers didn’t even kick off until 10:05 pm on the East Coast. Yet, that one image sent shockwaves across social media that has forced the NFL to clarify their stance on Brady, according to ESPN NFL insider Adam Schefter.
I’m a lifelong Patriots fan. I was an early Brady adopter, on his side in the Brady vs. Drew Bledsoe “who should start” debate. From his first NFL start, it was a no-brainer for me. His poise, his work ethic, his journey – he was the original Brock Purdy. I named every fantasy football team for the next 20 years with some play on “Brady Bromance”.
And the 199th pick of the 2000 NFL draft delivered unfathomable dividends to me and my family over his career at Gillette Stadium.
Brady vs. Belichick? Brady. No brainer.
Brady vs. Deflategate? Brady. I applauded his selective memory of where he placed his home when the league office came calling. Fake news, haters.
Brady versus Jimmy Garapolo, Robert Kraft, Giselle Bundchen or any other hater? Brady, baby.
I chose Tommy in the divorce, and became a Tampa Bay fan temporarily. When news broke that he was going to be a minority owner for the Raiders, it felt idiotic.
Were the Raiders that desperate for relevancy that they’d welcome the central figure in the one play that destroyed their franchise’s trajectory for the next two decades? This isn’t a throwaway stake – he and his business partner, Tom Wagner, together hold approximately 10 percent of a franchise valued at $7.7 billion.
Go make that bag, Tommy Boy. Take the FOX bag, too … steal the job from the best color man in the broadcasting business, Greg Olsen. You’ll slay it, I know you will.
The NFL wants to keep you out of production meetings? The Man will not keep down Tom Brady. I got your back.
People evolve, relationships evolve. It’s human nature. As Brady lost his bad haircut, goofy-looking everyman charm and went from dip to drip, we still had football. We had history and memories that fueled a queasy confidence that this Raiders thing was just a rebound – from retirement boredom, from Gisele, from the Patriots, you name it. Tommy deserved this dalliance.
You grew up a 49ers fan! Let that fan base deal with your new sidepiece. We’re still solid.
The Netflix roast was hilarious. Was it in poor taste and put your kids in a spotlight they never asked for? Yes, but again, you’re trying to find your new normal. It’s OK, none of us are perfect, not even you.
The NFL approved his ownership stake in October 2024. Brady addressed Raiders employees … and yet the bulk of Patriots Nation scoffed.
We still had this cocky, unwavering conviction that Kraft would swoop in and bring Brady home.
That history of Belichick and Kraft cutting bait with franchise legends? Not with Tommy.
Despite all the mounting evidence, I felt like Lloyd Christmas in “Dumb and Dumber”.
Dumb And Dumber Lloyd GIFfrom Dumb And Dumber GIFs
So you’re saying there’s still a chance.
And then came the camera shots Monday night. Brady looking so debonair in the coaches’ box, Joe Buck and Troy Aikman boasting about how he’s on the phone with Raiders offensive coordinator Chip Kelly two to three times a week.
I’m sitting here at 12:30 a.m. Tuesday morning, trying to write, and I have tears in my eyes and a soul-devouring emptiness making me numb.
This wasn’t just over. He’s not just not coming back.
We were Prom King together, Tommy.
And now you’re marrying the tuba player from the high school band?
Worse over, you went Instagram official and viral to rip my heart out once and for all?
This was an orchestrated moment with the very forces we galvanized against for decades. The NFL signed off on that camera shot, ESPN was complicit in the betrayal. They put the story on their front page, for Pete’s sake.
There will be no more ghosting me for weeks, no more excuses, no more alibis.
I have couth, courage and self-respect and I value history. What you meant to me and the aforementioned dividends, that’s all real.
But just like you had three different Hall of Fame careers, unabashed Brady Backers like me will now have two distinct eras.
We will recognize that what was … well, it was incredible. But what is now is an abomination.
You live among billionaires now, but you’re just grasping, Tommy. Because (wiping away tears for my Emmy clip moment) … it’s never going to be what we had.
This feels like an official disconnect with the working class. Was he looking down on us all along, aspiring for greatness to spite us?
Outside of football, trying to connect with Brady has always felt like trying to love Hayden Christiansen in Star Wars. It’s a beloved franchise, a pop culture centerpiece to our lives. They can do no true wrong, right? Jar Jar Binks? A minor misstep?
Christensen has created a stellar catalog of work beyond Anakin Skywalker. But we’re just never going to connect there on an emotional level. You’re Darth Vader, dude. You’re the GOAT of villains.
That’s Brady from this day forward. You’re Darth Raider. You are the Dark Side, the CEO of the Evil Empire.
I am hurt, but I am a bigger person than to make below-the-belt jabs, like saying you’re a mediocre broadcaster at best and will never win an AFC West title with the Raiders, let alone a Super Bowl. No, I’m taking the high road.
There is clarity now. I must quietly hate you for the remainder of time.
Well, at least until the Kraft family sells you a majority stake of the Pats in 2045.