The Hot Corner
Tom Brady just might be leaving the New England Patriots.
It sounds weird to say that. Brady, the winningest quarterback in NFL history, seems to be poised to depart from the team where he won all those rings and trophies and no one seems to understand how big of a deal this is.
If he hits the open market, we are talking about one of the biggest free agents of all time. This would be similar to when Nolan Ryan was a free agent, or Emmitt Smith being up for grabs.
Just imagine how Patriots fans feel? Something bad is actually happening to them. That never happens.
So many fans’ favorite player may be in a different jersey to start the 2020 season and his leaving will shift the NFL entirely.
While none of my teams have ever seen a player of that magnitude leave since I’ve been around, losing a favorite player from the team you follow is always rough.
As a Houston Astros fan, this off-season has been especially rough in that regards. We watched one of our aces, Gerrit Cole, shave his majestic hair and beard and put on pinstripes, Robinson Chirinos is going back to the Texas Rangers and and my mother is still battling the depression that came with Jake Marisnick’s departure to the New York Mets.
For me, the most painful event was losing Hunter Pence back in 2011. Growing up, Pence was my favorite player not named Craig Biggio. The lanky right fielder was a great ball-player with a personality that has endeared him to fans everywhere he’s played and I was his biggest fan.
We would sit in right field just so I could have a good view of him during games. His trade hurt for a number of reasons.
The most obvious being it meant my favorite player was leaving, which always stinks. But, more importantly, it was the first big trade that signalled the Astros rebuilding era and we all knew it.
The cruelty of sports is that it is rare for a player to stay in one city for as long as Brady was in New England. Losing a player of that caliber after that length of time has to be brutal. The best comparison I can think of was losing Tim Duncan as a San Antonio Spurs fan, but at least he didn’t end up in another jersey. Brady is clearly not done with football, but the likelihood of him returning to the Patriots seems lower and lower the more I look into it.
Scurry County New England Patriots fans should buckle up. This could be a rough few weeks for you guys.
Reed Graff is the sports editor for the Snyder Daily News. Comments about his column may be sent to sports@snyderdailynews.com