For as lauded as Tom Brady is, he still has plenty of haters.
St. Louis fans were not afraid to let Brady know how they felt about him during his Fox broadcasting debut on Sunday during the UFL championship game.
Brady awarded the UFL championship MVP Trophy to Adrian Martinez — the Birmingham Stallions quarterback — following a 25-0 UFL title game victory over the San Antonio Brahmas. It was the Stallions’ third consecutive title.
This animosity dates back to February 3, 2002 — Super Bowl XXXVI — when an unproven 24-year-old Brady led the Patriots to a stunning upset over the heavily favored St. Louis Rams.
Before the UFL game, Brady was chatting on the field with Kurt Warner, the opposing quarterback in that Super Bowl and the arm behind The Greatest Show on Turf.
Some, including Warner, have questioned the validity of the victory after the Patriots were later entrenched in the Spygate scandal years later.
The Patriots had videotaped opposing teams’ signals with then Jets coach Eric Mangnini, who was a former Patriots assistant, making the initial accusations.
Warner, now an analyst for NFL Network, had said the Spygate scandal added a “sliver of doubt” about the Patriots’ Super Bowl success.
Brady made his appearance in the booth in the second quarter and criticized the lack of a vertical passing attack with the two UFL squads in a scoreless game at the time.
The divisive Brady will likely elicit similar reactions from NFL fan bases he tortured through a Hall of Fame career that saw him win seven Super Bowls — six in New England and one in Tampa Bay.
Come September, when Brady makes his NFL broadcasting with the start of a 10-year, $375 million contract, that is something he might have to get used to.
Brady’s first game as the network’s top NFL analyst alongside play-by-play man Kevin Burkhardt will be the Week 1 Browns-Cowboys game in Cleveland on Sept. 8.
