Sports

Brady solidifies status as the greatest ever as Patriots exact revenge on Goodell

By Patrick Malin ’18

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Coming from Minnesota, the Green Bay Packers remain the true antagonists of the NFL. Everytime I see a smug Aaron Rodgers smirking into the camera after executing an inconceivable escape from the pocket to find a wide open no-name receiver streaking down the field, I feel ill. It was not until I came to Hamilton that I began to understand the cult of the Patriots and the hatred towards Brady and his hoodie-sporting genius on the sideline calling the shots. I now feel a similar sickness when I witness Brady tear apart a helpless zone defense, or when a previously irrelevant University of Wisconsin running back becomes Bill Belichick’s primary tool for leading the most miraculous comeback in Super Bowl history.

Yet, I nearly applauded as James White plunged across the goal line to secure Brady’s title as the greatest quarterback of all time. Brady is the lone player in the NFL who could captivate my interest in a 28-3 rout on football’s biggest stage. Despite facing a deficit that would more than double the largest comeback in Super Bowl history, I fully believed Brady would win. Like a surgeon operating with a scalpel, and with a higher power working in his favor like a scene from Angels in the Outfield (what else even begins to explain Julian Edelman’s fourth quarter catch?), Brady dismembered the Falcons’ secondary effortlessly. As the coin predictably landed on “heads” to give the Patriots the ball in overtime, the epitaph was effectively carved on the Falcons’ headstone.

Despite my negative feelings toward the organization whose success has been shrouded in a fog of scandal, I respect the Patriots as one of, if not the, most dominant sports dynasties I have experienced in my lifetime. Brady has individually won more Super Bowls than 28 NFL teams. As I sat with my jaw on the floor, dreading class on Monday and the obnoxious number 12 jerseys that would undoubtedly pepper the room, I could not help thinking about how exciting the Brady-Belichick combination has made the NFL for the past 15 years. The added benefit of watching Roger Goodell, the most despicable dictator in sports, forced to shake hands with the very man he targeted relentlessly all while repeatedly botching domestic violence cases, cemented this as one of the most entertaining spectacles in the history of football.

Congratulations Patriots fans across campus and New England, but let someone else have a turn next year. Boston has had enough success to last a lifetime. As my co-editor Levi Lorenzo ’19 pointed out in his piece “Obnoxious Patriots fans ruin otherwise phenomenal Super Bowl,” Bostonians should be content with 10 titles in the past 15 years in the big-four professional sports. Just as an example, Minnesota has won zero titles in that time span. The Timberwolves hold a painful 12-season playoff drought to top the NBA, the Vikings have played in four Super Bowls and have naturally lost all four, the Wild have failed to win a title in their existence (in the State of Hockey), and the Twins have not won the pennant since 1991 with no prospects for future succcess. Littered across the continental United States are tortured fan bases that are tired of hearing Patriots fans chant “Where is Roger?” and complain about a four-game suspension to a player from a franchise notorious for bending the rules. It truly is deflating to see such a successful franchise sulk in the face of adversity, while pointing out that Brady is “the chosen one” when victory was assured.

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