It's over.
This time it looks like it will be for good, according to the legendary NFL Tampa Bay Buccaneers's quarterback Tom Brady...
And formerly for the New England Patriots, for around twenty years...
Is it appropriate to claim that he is the greatest quarterback in football history?
I believe that this kind of question will never be unanimous, as it is the case in all other sports, but it would however be unthinkable not to consider him. From the outset, he is the first player to have crossed 100,000 yards by the pass. We only have to think back to his seven NFL Super Bowl championship rings, which puts him ahead of the 32 NFL teams and ahead of all other quarterbacks in history. Otherwise, what about his 10 appearances in the Super Bowl game, which is also a record? In his seven triumphs, he would be named MVP of the game five times. Records of this order, both individually and collectively, I could quote you for hours. In the end, it wouldn't change the extraordinary impact he had on the sport. Furthermore, it wouldn't affect the inspiration and hope he gave to millions of young and old around the world.
How many children began to play football in hope of becoming Tom Brady? When a career lasts 23 years, it's pretty safe to say that he may have faced players he inspired.
If, despite his 45 years, Tom Brady's fans are struggling believing in this second retirement, because the first lasted only a month, and as recently, some informants evoke the possibility that he could join the New Orleans Saints, nothing can diminish his career, he who was however drafted in the 199th level, in 2000, by the New England Patriots. The puny athlete that he was was not headed for such a career, when he was called on to replace the team's starting quarterback, Drew Bledsoe, in 2001.
The rest of the story. ..
Belongs to history.
Early in his career, he began breaking records including his 10 straight playoff wins and his three championships in five years.
Tom Brady started his career with a bang and he never slowed down.
Never.
Presumably, the athlete who was once drafted by the Montreal Expos, while he was not only excelling in football, is heading towards a glorious career as a football analyst. This second career will bring him even more than his first. With the FOX channel, he will pocket 375 million dollars in 10 years, while he amassed 333 million dollars in 23 years.
Like his salary, which will experience a dizzying increase, there is another aspect of his branding likely to experience significant increases in value: the trading cards bearing his image, more particularly the one commemorating his rookie year, in 2000 – especially since the value of this extremely rare card jumped from $600 to $1,500 when he won his first championship in 2001.
It would take a very clever expert to predict the value of this one, now that he has hung up his cleats and that the Football Hall of Fame opened its doors to him. The record for the value of a sports card was set last August when a 1952 Baseball Player of the Year Mickey Mantle card sold for a whopping $12.6 million. However, according to Brian Lee, president and CEO of Arena Club, a company that specializes in trading cards, cards featuring NFL stars still lag behind other sports legends, in part due to the helmet worn by football players.
It's more complex to get an iconic photo like that of Michael Jordan flying away or the ardent gaze of Maurice Richard. However, this balance of power could be set to change, as football is now the most important sport in the United States, which says a lot about its popularity and dedicated fans to this typically American sport.
I won't teach you anything if I told you that it is the buyers who decide the value given to an object. If several memorabilia collectors want the same item, the value and price will certainly explode. At the same time, another factor that could influence the value of a collector's item is if the great Tom Brady decides to once again return to the field to play another final season. Do you remember the value of the ball used for his last career touchdown – before he returned to play? When his last touchdown was no longer his last, that ball’s value melted like snow in the sun.
In closing, whatever the future holds for him, nothing can erase the past, that of a champion who defied odds and took football to another level, as he broke records one after the other.
- David Leboeuf
Here are the first 2 Tom Brady tribute paintings created by the artist Eric Sevigny. They were created for the Super Bowl LII 2018 Philadelphia Eagles - New England Patriots
#Sevigny_Art#SportsArt#Football#Superbowl#TomBrady#NewEnglandPatriots#TampaBayBuccaneers#NFL#SportsMemorabilia #SportsArt
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