TWO STARS ALIGNED
An unkind simpatico for Brady, Gretzky
Despite the Patriots’ sudden, shocking and, well, boring exit from this year’s Super Bowl tournament, Tom Brady’s status hasn’t changed much.
He didn’t have a Brady-like game last weekend, sure. But he remains on the Mount Rushmore of Boston sports legends with Bobby Orr, Ted Williams and Bill Russell, just as he remains on the very short list of Greatest Quarterbacks Ever, as in 1) Joe Montana, 2) Tom Brady. (Until Brady wins a fourth Super Bowl, that’s just the way it’s going to be.)
The Patriots quarterback for the ages is a certified sports icon. And one of the perks that goes with that, once your playing days are over, is that people choose to celebrate the great things you’ve done rather than dwell on your failures.
It’s the same with actors, now that I think about it. And politicians. We celebrate Al Pacino for “Godfather,” “Godfather II,” “Dog Day Afternoon” and “Serpico,” but do not dwell on “Bobby Deerfield.” We celebrate Franklin Roosevelt for the National Recovery Act, the Fireside Chats and guiding our country through World War II, but do not dwell on his cockamamie scheme to stack the Supreme Court.
But there’s a warning label being attached to Brady’s career. And Patriots fans should read it and heed it, because you never know when you’re gonna need it. The warning label reads as follows: “Beware the Wayne Gretzky Syndrome.”
Gretzky, as anyone who knows a lick of hockey will tell you, is arguably the second greatest hockey player of all time. (The greatest being, inarguably, Orr.)
The Great One scored 894 goals in his NHL career, and led the league in points 11 times. He led the league in assists 13 consecutive seasons. If that’s not “dominating your era,” as we like to say, the term should be tossed out of any Hall of Fame discussion. And speaking of same, Gretzky went directly to hockey’s Hall after retiring as a player. None of that trifling “waiting period” bureaucracy for this giant.
Gretzky also played on four Stanley Cup-winning teams. But this is where it gets tricky: The last time he held the Stanley Cup over his head, Gretzky was just 27 years old. He played 11 more seasons without being on a championship team.
That’s the Wayne Gretzky Syndrome: When a great player leads his team to multiple championships early in his career, but then wanders onto a long and winding road that never again leads to the winners’ circle.
Jimmie Foxx, for instance, had already played on two World Series winners by the time he was 22, but didn’t win a championship for the remaining 14 years of his career. That included 61⁄ seasons with the Red Sox.
While it sounds odd to assert that a player should hope he doesn’t become the next Wayne Gretzky, that’s precisely the dilemma facing Tom Brady. And, really, the similarities are striking:
• Gretzky led the Edmonton Oilers to four Stanley Cup championships in five seasons. Brady led the Patriots to three Super Bowl championships in four seasons.
• Gretzky was 27 the last time he played on a Stanley Cup-winning team. Brady was 27 the last time he played on a Super Bowlwinning team.
• Gretzky played 11 more seasons after winning his last championship. Brady has played eight seasons since winning his last championship.
That Gretzky never played on another championship team after the age of 27 has in no way hurt his reputation. To repeat: When you’re an icon who has ridden off into the sunset, people celebrate the great things you’ve done rather than dwell on your failures.
There are exceptions, one of them being Willie Mays. Though considered by many to be the greatest all-around player in baseball history, his good name invariably gets dragged into any discussion of Athletes Who Hung Around Too Long. (See: World Series, 1973.)
As for Brady as sports icon, if he never wins another Super Bowl, he’ll always be introduced as the man who led the Patriots to three championships. Nobody ever closes a Wayne Gretzky intro with the sobering disclaimer, “Oh, by the way, he played the last 11 seasons of his career without being on a Cup winner,” and so it will be with Brady.
But if Brady never leads his team to another Super Bowl, it will always gnaw on Pats fans, just as I suspect it will always gnaw on him.
To borrow the Col. Nathan Jessup line from “A Few Good Men,” you don’t want the truth because deep down in places you don’t talk about at parties . . . you wonder if Brady’s ever going to win another Super Bowl.