Sun.Star Cebu

In the Super Bowl, Tom Brady is super

In this merciless sport when a 314-lb. linebacker can bulldoze your bodyand hammering of quarterbac­ks is the defense's No. 1 goal, Tom Terrific is terrific.

- JOHN Z. PAGES john@pages.ph

In this era of Michael Phelps, Serena Williams, Usain Bolt, Roger Federer and (should I include him?) Floyd Mayweather, Jr., when we are all witnesses to the GOAT (Greatest Of All Time) athletes, one man has enshrined himself as NFL's best quarterbac­k.

Thomas Edward Patrick Brady Jr. is old at 39. In this merciless sport when a 314-lb. linebacker can bulldoze your body from behind, when injuries are ever-present and the banging and hammering of quarterbac­ks is the defense's No. 1 goal, Tom Terrific is terrific.

“Brady is getting better with age,” said Lapu-Lapu City councilor Harry Radaza, a long-time football fan. “That cements Brady's legacy. He went from ‘arguably' the best QB to ‘definitive­ly' the best. I would love to see him retire but he still wants to play. That means we get to see the GOAT for another 4 years. Enjoy it while we can! And did you know he was the 199th pick? When the rookie met owner Robert Kraft, he told him, ‘I'm the best decision this organizati­on has ever made.'”

With the Super Bowl, I did not get to watch the live telecast last Monday. It was only late that night when I switched on the Sports Illustrate­d channel 763 that I saw the important moments of SB LI: the Patriots were down 9-28 with 14 minutes left. No way they could mount a comeback. But they scored and scored — 25 unanswered points to zero for the Falcons — en route to a miraculous 34-28 victory in front of 70,807 fans in Houston.

The highlight was Julian Edelman's catch with 2:03 left in the 4th. Surrounded by three Falcons defenders, Edelman was able to catch the throw of Brady with the ball floating inches from the ground.

Ping-J Villegas, writing from New Jersey, watched the game at home with his wife Jenn: “The game was one of the best since I moved to the US 20 years ago. It was nerve-wrecking. At first, I thought the game would be lousy because of the score before the 2nd half. I guess Lady GaGa woke up Brady, hehe. I made a bet with my boss that the Patriots will win and now I have a free lunch to collect. It was dead at work at Bloomberg for a Monday morning. A lot of people called in sick or just worked from home.”

My wife's cousin Richard Baluyot, who lives in Atlanta, said, “I'm watching the news and the city is in a somber state. The fans are heartbroke­n. When the Falcons returned, there was only a small crowd to greet them. Here it's called Monday Mourning.”

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