Signs of Brady’s descent now after legendary ascent
We’ve never had a problem with Tom Brady around the 3Dot Lounge, other than correcting those who call him the bestever quarterback. Around here, that’s Joe Montana, and no mountain of contrary evidence will ever sway this crowd. Brady’s an alltime great, and we’ll leave it at that.
Things have been a little strange, though, in Brady’s 21st NFL season. He’s ventured a bit off the path of righteousness. One day he’ll look very much like the field general who methodically carved up defenses for so many years. You figure he might even find himself in yet another Super Bowl. Then there are those other days, when he becomes quite the
ordinary man.
In the final minute of Tampa Bay’s loss to Chicago in early October, Brady prepared for a fourthdown play that had already happened. The Buccaneers had run out of downs but he didn’t realize it, erroneously staking his claim to a nearby referee. After walking off the field without congratulating the opposition, he gave a pitifully weak answer about the confusion, basically refusing to acknowledge it.
Then came another nationally televised disaster, Monday night against the Rams, when he threw a pass, had it blocked right back into his arms, then tried to throw another pass — which looked kind of cool, except that it’s illegal. Once again, in the aftermath, he pouted his way off the field without congratulating anyone — especially Rams quarterback Jared Goff, who looked to be hoping for even the slightest meaningful connection.
Listen, it’s no sin to blow off the other team at game’s end. A number of great athletes have done so, particularly LeBron James, Russell Westbrook, James Harden and Isiah Thomas at the conclusion of NBA playoff series. Sometimes hatred, bitterness, selfpity or disappointment override any notion of sportsmanship. It’s just that some people take the classy route, without fail. We expected that from Brady this season, especially with such an aweinspiring track record behind him, but no such luck.
Against titanic odds, the NBA and MLB managed to complete seasons with historical significance — wildly different to be sure, but nevertheless authentic in the end. That’s hardly the case with the Pac12 football season, a terrible idea (especially after the initial plan to call it off ) that has descended into farce. Retrospective views will offer nothing but disdain, dismissal and wonderment, as in, What were we doing? Now the plague of stupidity (with a special dose of greed) has infected college basketball, with alarming developments expected throughout the land . ... That’s the key word, expected. Positive tests, outbreaks, shutdowns, fractured schedules — all of this was going to be part of the deal, and the power brokers just brushed it aside, like lint. “Surely,” wrote Chuck Culpepper in the Washington Post, “there’s an admirable human trait tucked somewhere into the way everybody continues to act.” ... Renato Nuñez was a prospect in the A’s system with just a single tool, power, and with Khris Davis locked into the DH slot, they exposed him to the waiver wire in April 2018 and he was claimed by Texas. About a month later, he went through the same process and landed with Baltimore, belting 31 homers for the 2019 Orioles before falling out of favor. Turn now to Chris Shaw, a onceheralded Giants prospect who hit 109 homers over five minorleague seasons but looked overmatched in the big leagues (a combined .153 in 82 plate appearances over the 201819 seasons). On Wednesday, the Orioles claimed the first basemanoutfielder off waivers from the Giants — two days after releassing Nuñez . ... Wandering on through the NBA, exWarriors center Damian Jones agreed to a twoyear deal with Phoenix on Sunday. It seems a bit odd, because the Suns have promising center Deandre Ayton and also their No. 1 draft pick, 6foot10 Jalen Smith out of Maryland . ... Only a few days ago, the Houston Rockets were dealing with trade demands from Harden and Westbrook, with no obvious path to a rebuild. Then they worked a signandtrade deal for Christian Wood ,a journeyman center who had blossomed into a potential star with Detroit before the pandemic shut things down. But that’s not all; now DeMarcus Cousins is in town, signing a oneyear deal as he comes off three major injuries (Achilles, ACL and quad). It’s difficult to gauge whether Harden and Westbrook even care, but if this group sticks together, we’ll see a different style under new coach Stephen Silas. And it’s about time.
If you arrived late to the Diego Maradona experience, you undoubtedly found him vile, arrogant and obese, fending off the latest drug rumors and grotesquely offending all those beyond his inner circle. That’s what the man had become after too much fame, the piles of cocaine and a sense that he couldn’t escape the demons raging inside him. Take a moment, though, to observe the tributes in his native Argentina and around the world in the wake of his death, at 60, this week. Some of those celebrations will last for days, if not weeks; for now the good memories flow, all about his distinctive genius with a soccer ball. On rare occasions, watching decadesold sports films, you come across an athlete who set a standard, something unmatched to this day: the ascending Cassius Clay, Gale Sayers in the open field, Magic Johnson on the fast break — or the great Maradona in flight. If you’re coming in cold, your first move is to find his signature goal against England in the 1986 World Cup, a performance of such astonishing virtuosity, it requires several viewings to comprehend. (See “Maradona’s Goal of the Century” on YouTube.) Then try to find Asif Kapadia’s penetrating 2019 documentary “Diego Maradona,” released for contemporary viewing through HBO. This is a life story well worth exploring.