TAMPA, Fla. — From a sports perspective, it was a seminal moment, where time stops in its tracks and many realize they’ll forever remember where they were — and what they were doing — when history transpired.
Tom Brady’s unretirement announcement — one month ago — produced that effect, at least on the NFL and local landscape. Seems everyone recalls their movements of that mild March 13 evening, when the 44-year-old future Hall of Famer ended a 41-day hiatus from football and set off a surge of re-signings that propelled the Bucs back into the Super Bowl discussion.
Here are some of of the more notable recollections of that night from prominent people inside and outside the Bucs organization:
Jeff Darlington, ESPN
(Darlington and colleague Adam Schefter broke the original news of Brady’s retirement)
“I had just gotten back from a member-guest golf tournament at The Pelican, which is in Belleair. Literally had just gotten home (to Fort Lauderdale), so I had golfed for three days. ... What I thought about was, Tom has since said that I ruined his golf weekend (by reporting his retirement). What Tom doesn’t realize is that he had every opportunity to ruin my golf weekend if he had just (unretired) a day or two earlier.”
Linebacker Lavonte David
“I believe I was ... shoot, where was I? I probably was home. I believe I was home. Throughout the whole offseason that was the whole speculation, people saying he’s going to come back, it’s not real. You never know. I kind of had my doubts about it, but I wasn’t really sure. And then when he officially came out and said he’s coming back, I wasn’t surprised. Everybody knows Tom is the ultimate competitor, and the way we went out last year (a 30-27 playoff loss to the Rams), I’m sure he didn’t want to end on that type of note, so I’m not surprised that he’s back to chase another one.”
Defensive lineman William Gholston
“I think I was working out — it’s a squat day, it was leg day. And we got (out) from under there and they were like, ‘Hey, Tom unretired.’ And in my head I didn’t feel like he really retired. I think he just thanked the fans when he made his letter; that’s just something I’m saying to myself. It was awesome, put a little extra incentive on everything.”
Bucs co-owner Joel Glazer
Glazer denies the widespread presumption he learned of Brady’s decision at a Manchester United soccer match on March 12: “It wasn’t there. But we knew soon before everybody else.”
Wide receiver Chris Godwin
“He had texted me and Mike (Evans); we have a small little group chat that we hit sometimes. He texted us probably 20 minutes before (his announcement) and said, ‘Just so y’all know, I’m coming back and I’m excited for another year.’ Mike and I were gassed up, we were like, ‘What are you talking about, you’re coming back? You just retired.’ But it’s hard to walk away from the game, especially when you’re as dedicated to it as Tom is. I would say I’m surprised, but I know him, I know what this game means to him, and I know how his family feels about it.”
Center Ryan Jensen
“He called me on Sunday, pretty much right before he had announced and said, ‘Hey, let’s run it back. I’m coming back.’ At that point, I was pretty much already committed to coming back to Tampa, and obviously that’s just the sugar on top. It was a crazy day. I was having a birthday party for my daughter and dealing with trying to negotiate (a new deal), and also Tom calls me.”
Safety Logan Ryan
“I was in the kitchen making something for my kids, maybe a Hot Pocket or something like that, and my wife told me. So I was late to the party, later than everyone else here. ‘Did you see what’s going on? Tom’s back.’ I’m like, ‘What?’ So yeah, I had no idea.”
Linebacker Joe Tryon-Shoyinka
“I was on my balcony with my mom. And then I was like, ‘Is this real?’ Yeah, pretty exciting.”
Tackle Tristan Wirfs
“I remember I was at a Texas Roadhouse with my mom, and the TV behind me, she’s like, ‘Oh my gosh, look.’ It was breaking news, and my phone started going off, my buddies were texting me. I was like, ‘Here we go.’ ”
