This is the online version of our daily newsletter, The Morning Win. Subscribe to get irreverent and incisive sports stories, delivered to your mailbox every morning.
Tom Brady is back where he’s basically spent the end of all of his adult summers – at a NFL training camp getting ready for another season that has high expectations many weeks before the real games start.
This is the 23rd training camp for the GOAT and it’s one he almost didn’t make it to because he actually retired from football just a few weeks after the Bucs were eliminated by the eventual Super Bowl champs.
Brady, however, quickly realized he still had some football left in him and he had to come back for more, which wasn’t a surprise to anyone.
But now, just a few days before Brady’s 45th birthday (August 3), I have to ask a simple question – is this the year he finally starts acting more like us?
You know what I mean by that. Is this the year he starts feeling something even remotely close to his age like the rest of us do? Is the year he starts slowing down a little bit like the rest of us have? Is this the year where little tasks like getting off the couch can lead to some pains and weird noises from your joints? Is this the year where the belt needs to be loosened a bit because we just can’t say no to carbs late at night?
I’m guessing his diet won’t change at all (the poor guy is missing out on so much good food!) but I don’t think any of us can be sure about the rest. At some point this fella has to start showing his age, which is pretty darn high to be a high-functioning quarterback in a young league that is full of very good defensive players who would like nothing more than to stop this old man from still being very good at football.
The folks at Madden clearly don’t think this is the year that Brady slows down a bit as he was the top ranked QB in the Madden 23 ratings that were released last week.
And if you remember his last game – when he led the Bucs back from a huge deficit to tie up the Rams in the final minute, only to have Los Angeles spoil it with a field goal at the buzzer – then you know Brady can still sling it and produce the magical moments that we’ve grown used to seeing him produce.
But it is just wild to think that Brady has been going to NFL training camps for every year since 2000. 2000! Think of all the changes that have happened in your life since then and then think of this pliable dude still being really good at football.
It’s nuts.
While one side of the brain says Brady has to slow down at some point, the other side is quick to remind you that this debate has happened many times before and ends each time with the GOAT making you look silly for even questioning him.
Football is back. Brady is back. And I’m guessing he’ll look just like he has for all these years.
Which isn’t fair to the rest of us old you-know-whats, but whatever. I’m off to enjoy some carbs.
Quick hits: Embarrassing Red Sox video… MLB fans have a new hero… 40 mph MLB meatball… And more.
– This two-minute video of all of the Red Sox’s bloopers from the month of July will make you laugh, unless you’re from Boston.
– Mets DH Daniel Vogelbach – who is listed at 6-feet, 270 pounds – flew around the bases to score a run and MLB fans were in awe.
– The Marlins’ Willians Astudillo threw a 40 MPH meatball in last night’s game and it actually ended up going really well for him.
– Here are the best NFL players 25 or younger at every position.
