ESPN SEES BRADY LIKE A FINE WINE
Mag imagines QB as a silver fox
We’re no longer left to wonder what Tom Brady might look like as he ages like a fine wine. The cover of ESPN The Magazine’s Nov. 13 QBs at a Crossroads issue gives us a glimpse five years into the future to see what may become of our quarterback.
The glossy magazine features an enhanced photo of Tommy, revealing what he might look like after several more years of wear and tear. The altered coverboy has a full head of gray hair with metallic flecks in his beard stubble to match, and there are aggressively deep lines decorating his face.
To be honest, the silver fox look suits him. Apparently, a diet full of nuts, berries and avocado ice cream does a visage good.
But that’s not the main takeaway from the ESPN image. It’s meant to show what TB will look like at 45, the age when he’s said to be planning on ending his football career. Or maybe not. And the accompanying story, titled “Tom Brady’s Most Dangerous Game,” dives into why TB12 might be compelled to continue playing — and playing well — until that time.
It has nothing to do with having to lead our Patriots in winning more Super Bowls, although we’ll take that, too. Tom Junod and Seth Wickersham, authors of the ESPN article, argue that Brady has made himself a case study for
“The TB12 Method” he preaches and he has to see it through.
“He doesn’t just want to play until he’s 45; he has to play until he’s 45, or else he’s not Tom Brady, architect of the impossible,” Junod and Wickersham write.
“Up against aging, injury and, possibly, the inscrutable long-range plans of his future Hall of Fame coach, Bill Belichick, Brady is playing a dangerous game within a dangerous game, and before he transcends football, he has to manage a feat almost as rare and unlikely: He has to survive it, with his body, his brain and his dignity intact.”
All due respect, but Brady has already managed a feat almost as rare and unlikely. With five championship rings and four Super Bowl MVP titles, we think Brady has nothing left to prove.
But if he is still going strong at 45, with that handsomely aged face of his, all the better for us ... and for his book sales.