Maybe it's time to truly, actually, hang up the football helmet? At least before playing football makes your family life difficult.
This is what Tom Brady perhaps ought to have done, but instead he recently washed out of the playoffs with his team the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
With the Buccaneers, Brady—considered as one of the greatest quarterbacks of all time— weathered two seasons of failure after winning the Super Bowl with the team at the height of the pandemic. The Buccaneers and Cowboys played each other in the first round of the playoffs on Monday, but the Buccaneers were soundly defeated 31-14.
People made jokes about Brady maybe trying to win back his ex-wife Gisele Bündchen after the game. Brady and Bündchen divorced in October of last year, allegedly due to disagreements over his desire to keep playing football. This knowledge is what sparked the jeers after the loss on Monday night.
Brady, whose past three seasons with the Buccaneers followed two decades with the New England Patriots, has been quoted comparing playing football with military deployments, a comparison that did not apparently endear him to his now ex-wife.
"I almost look at a football season like you're going away on deployment for the military...The reality is when it comes down to it, your competitiveness takes over and as much as you want to have this playful balance with the work balance, you're going to end up doing exactly what you've always done."
Much of the mocking came from other teams' fans.
\u201cTom Brady to Gisele.\u201d— Siddique Farooqi (@Siddique Farooqi) 1673928597
\u201cTom Brady outside of Gisele house after this game\u201d— iamTheRealVegasMURPH (@iamTheRealVegasMURPH) 1673924928
Others were just happy to be here to watch.
\u201cHappy Tom Brady Playoff Elimination Day to those who celebrate.\u201d— Garrett Haake (@Garrett Haake) 1673927807
\u201cTom Brady picking football over his family, and then going to lose 31-6 against the cowboys and ending the season is\u2026.delicious\u201d— Mary (@Mary) 1673977530
\u201creminder that Tom Brady chose this over being married to the world's most famous supermodel\u201d— shauna (@shauna) 1673925653
The dunks just kept coming.
\u201cThe unemployment rate is at its lowest level in 50 years, and yet, Tom Brady keeps getting sacked.\u201d— Charlotte Clymer \ud83c\uddfa\ud83c\udde6 (@Charlotte Clymer \ud83c\uddfa\ud83c\udde6) 1673927815
\u201cTom Brady left his family to get smacked around all season \ud83e\udd23\ud83e\udd23\ud83e\udd23\ud83e\udd23\u201d— Uncle Daddy Will (@Uncle Daddy Will) 1673927256
What smacks, you may ask?
\u201cTom Brady really could have retired with a supermodel wife and more Super Bowl rings than any other *franchise* ever.\n\nInstead, he got clapped by FTX, divorce attorneys, and the Falcons and Cowboys in back-to-back weeks.\u201d— Jack Raines (@Jack Raines) 1673970667
What else is he supposed to be doing, one person asked.
\u201ca lot of tweets about what tom brady could have been doing in retirement instead of losing 31-6 but the thing you gotta realize about competitors like him and aaron rodgers is their families don\u2019t like them so there are only so many options\u201d— Jonny Auping (@Jonny Auping) 1673928184
Finally, someone pointed out Tom Brady still lived the American Dream.
Just maybe not the one he was thinking of.
\u201ctom brady moving from new england to florida, getting divorced, and watching helplessly as his body and professional skillset decrease is a very american story if we\u2019re being honest\u201d— Brian Floyd (@Brian Floyd) 1673928663
Maybe next season, Brady.
Maybe next season.
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The Washington Post