Curran: Holster your indignation over Tom Brady retirement 'snub' originally appeared on NBC Sports Boston
Tom Brady retired. Not surprisingly, many folks up here began flipping through his announcement to find where he thanked them profusely for watching him play.
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He didn’t. People are PISSED!!! How dare he!!! After all he did for them, to not thank PATRIOTS FANS AND THE PATRIOTS FOR CONSUMING HIS GREATNESS!!!???
I recommended people play it cool. Let’s not look too needy. It doesn’t always have to be about you.
He’s already thanked you, told you he loved you, promised to always have New England close to his heart. Don’t want to flip out throwing vases and then find out he’s fashioned a beautiful retirement video especially for you.
Many agreed.
Many didn’t.
It is worth noting the Patriots, Bill Belichick, Robert Kraft, all his Patriots teammates and the great New England states of Massachusetts, Maine, Vermont, Connecticut and New Hampshire weren’t mentioned.* But it’s worth a “Hmmm…” not a “Waaaaahhhhhhh!!!!!!” At least not yet.
When can you unholster your indignation? Well, you can let some leak in the next 24 hours or so if Brand Brady doesn’t understand its most loyal customers are pretty pissed off.
NBC Sports
Brady acknowledges Pats fans in follow-up to retirement announcement
If that doesn’t satisfy, then wait to see if Brady agrees to do the ceremonial, "sign a contract and retire as a Patriot" song-and-dance.
The Patriots did that with Willie McGinest back in 2015. It was very important to him. The Patriots most certainly would like to do the same thing with Brady sooner than 2027 when he’ll be eligible for the Patriots Hall of Fame.
If that doesn’t happen? You can surmise that Brady said no.
Why would he refuse? Maybe because he’d think to himself, “Hell, I wanted you to sign me to a contract in 2019 to keep me here as a Patriot. You didn’t. Now you think I should come back and sign one now for a photo-op? You guys had the chance to have me retire as a Patriot. I said I wanted to a thousand times. But you chose not to because you didn’t think I’d be good enough or worth the money at the age of 43 and 44. So I love you. I appreciate you. I want a great relationship going forward. But if you wouldn’t offer me a contract when I wanted it, why should I do a dog-and-pony show contract signing now as if none of that happened? As if you didn’t hold out on giving me exactly what you want me to now ceremoniously sign?”
It’s a sticky spot for the Patriots. They can’t "ask" Brady to do the contract thing because if he refuses, it’s a snub to ownership. Additionally, the region would turn on him and I just don’t think the Kraft family would want that to happen either. They are peacemakers, not flamethrowers.
In other words, you may have to carry your bile around for a little while. If there’s never a one-day contract thingy, then you know. Maybe you’ll understand. Maybe you won’t. Maybe the bile will have subsided. Maybe it will still be frothy.
For today, you have a choice. You can lose your damn mind because the greatest quarterback in NFL history -- Nay, THE GREATEST PLAYER IN NFL HISTORY!!! -- failed to make eye contact and smile at you as he walked out the proverbial door. Or, you can make note of that and figure that you still have something special and you’ll meet him later.
And keep this in mind too.
*P.S.: I know I left out Rhode Island when listing great New England states. That's because Rhode Island is the greatest state. Sorry if you were hurt, Little Rhody!
