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.
Others were just happy to be here to watch.
The dunks just kept coming.
What smacks, you may ask?
What else is he supposed to be doing, one person asked.
Finally, someone pointed out Tom Brady still lived the American Dream.
Just maybe not the one he was thinking of.
Maybe next season, Brady.
Maybe next season.
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