Tom Brady’s induction ceremony last night defied words, which if you’re somebody who promised to write about this event a week ago, really puts you between a rock and a hard place. (That’ll teach me to make promises, but as I always say, “if the Notebook is about anything, it’s accountability.”)
If you read last week’s Notebook, you know that expectations for what this event would wind up being were sky high. Here’s the funny thing, I wasn’t that far off. After a red carpet show that aired for fans in the stadium that included interviews with former Patriots, Tom Brady , his parents and the Brady Four from Barstool. (The four guys who got arrested at NFL headquarters during deflategate.) the crowd was primed for the main event.
As the clock struck 7pm (eastern standard) a countdown clock replaced the giant 12 that had been taking up real estate on the stage. When the clock struck midnight (metaphorically speaking but still eastern standard) white smoke billowed from the stage and instead of naming a new Pope, Jay-Z emerged to the strains of Public Service Announcement. The crowd went berserk! Fire balls launched at the sky (real Beastie Boys type stuff) as Thomas Edward Patrick Brady emerged back into the arena. His arena.
The stage was set, but this would be different from that other event this summer honoring Tom, comedian Bill Burr took the microphone and did a very funny set where he pretty much just recited the dark days of the New England Patriots pre-Brady. No punch lines needed when fans steal the goal posts and then get electrocuted when they bump into some power lines on route 1.
The rest of the event followed the script from Larry Bird night 31 years ago, but instead of honoring each championship team, groupings of Brady’s teammates joined the GOAT and Mike Tirico on the dais. The first group with McGinest, Wilfork, Law and McCourty was good. (“Vince Wilfork is the best nose tackle the league has ever seen.” Tom Brady.) The QB room with Bledsoe, Hoyer, Cassel and Josh McDaniels was just okay I think. (I say I think because they were hard to hear, not a lot of big voices in that group and when 60,000 people start to murmur, it can easily drown out the spoken word into a wireless microphone.)
Things picked up when Brady’s greatest targets joined the festivities: Randy Moss, Wes Welker, Julian Edelman and Rob Gronkowski. The most unexpected cool moment of the night was when this segment started with a question for Randy Moss and when he started to answer the crowd started cheering and just wouldn’t stop. The standing ovation lasted several minutes and didn’t stop until tears were streaking down his cheeks like he once streaked through secondaries. Welker got a nice hand, Edelman got a standing ovation and Gronk was welcomed as a conquering hero.
I don’t remember a ton of the content of this segment but this was a moment to savor. What I realized as I considered these ovations is, fans rarely get a chance to say goodbye. Randy Moss was traded to Minnesota during the first month of the 2010 season and played for the Vikings the next week. Julian Edelman retired after the 2020 season and hasn’t really been back. Gronk went to Tampa. Welker to Denver. This was the first chance for fans to welcome them back and tip their caps to their careers.
There were video packages from various sporting figures, Boston legends David Ortiz, Paul Pierce and Patrice Bergeron did a nice one. Bono did one about chess for some reason. Harry Kane, who I hear plays soccer had one as well. The best included Joe Buck, Rich Eisen, Al Michaels, Jim Nantz and Chris Berman. The most interesting was former opponents, Ray Lewis (booed), Ed Reed (cheered), Michael Strahan (booed), Jason Taylor (ignored) Eli Manning (booed into oblivion!) this of course led up to Peyton Manning’s arrival on stage. And you know what, Peyton was cheered. He’s the Magic to Brady’s Larry. We’ll never forget those games but seeing them together one more time was surreal. Manning was entertaining, had a few good lines.
David Andrews came out and introduced special musical guest Kenny Chesney! Chesney did an acoustic version of The Boys of Fall. Sadly with the stage set up there wasn’t room for a full band and this would be the final musical performance of the night. Though they did play Beautiful Day after the Bono chess video at the end, followed by Livin on a Prayer while Jon Bon Jovi hugged Tom in front of the stage. If you go back to last week’s predictions, I nailed two (Jay-Z and Chesney) and would apply for partial credit for U2 and Bon Jovi. No Aerosmith, Paul McCartney or Ozzy sightings sadly.
This is the point where I got nervous. The red jacket and a podium were brought on stage and my fear was that Robert Kraft would take the stage, honor Tom, slip the jacket onto his shoulders, good night. No Bill Belichick. Because that’s the fear in all of this, that Bill wouldn’t be here. I won’t lie, I held my breath during each video package that we wouldn’t see Bill giving a quick talk in front of a library of football books and models of old wooden ships.
Deion Branch and Troy Brown then gave a short speech and introduced BILL BELICHICK!
The stadium went bonkers! It was like in Office finale when Michael Scott shows up at Dwight’s wedding times 10,000! This was everything we needed. QB and coach hugged. Bill have a heart felt speech and he called Tom the greatest QB ever and focused on not only the great plays that Tom made but his ability to avoid bad plays. Bill looked positively presidential behind the podium, (fine twist my arm I’ll vote him a third presidential election in a row) the first person to speak on a hardwired microphone and maybe it was the equipment or the hush That fell over the crowd while the coach spoke but this was the moment Patriots fans finally got to let Bill Belichick how much we care about him and what he did here. It was a theme of the night. There were now tears, but we did get a big smile out of our old coach.
That left the business of why we were really here, to induct Tom into the Patriots Hall of Fame. Robert Kraft did the honors and announced that in addition to the red jacket, the number 12 is now retired in New England and won’t be worn again. AND that a 12ft tall bronze statue has been commissioned and will be placed in the new plaza out in front of Gillette Stadium during the 2024 season. (He didn’t mention anything about changing the name Of route 1, but we have to save something for when he goes into the Pro Football Hall of Fame.)
With his new red blazer on his shoulders, Brady took his place at the podium. As we approached 3 hours, I realized we had heard very little from Tom Brady. He was vessel in which to deliver an occasion to celebrate the Patriots dynasty. Almost like your first friend from high school that gets married. You’re happy for them but you’re also just happy to have a reason for all of your old friends to get back together again.
Highlights from Brady’s impassioned speech: “where else would people wait in traffic for hours on route 1 to get to a football stadium in the woods?”
On Belichick: “it wasn’t me. It wasn’t you. It was us!”
“Julian gave me $10k to mention him by name.”
“I am Tom Brady and I am a Patriot.”
I couldn’t have said it any better Tom.