It’s all good.
That’s maybe the best way to describe Tom Brady’s unprecedented Patriots Hall of Fame ceremony that took place in front of 60,000-plus adoring fans Wednesday night – 6/12/24 – inside Gillette Stadium.
It was the star-studded, unique night that the GOAT deserved.
But it was also the night that loyal fans of Patriot Nation deserved.
A chance for a two-way street of appreciation capping and reliving the never to be seen again career that was at the center of most unexpected, successful dynasty in football history.
Sure it was announced that Brady’s No. 12 jersey will never be worn again in New England. Great. Also, duh.
And Robert Kraft let us all know that a 12-foot tall Brady statue is slated to be installed in the plaza outside Gillette and the Patriots Hall of Fame later this year. Again, great and duh!
But this night was about the people – Brady, Bill Belichick, Robert Kraft, hundreds of former teammates and coaches and…the fans.
To steal a term from the wrestling business, the pop for Belichick when he arrived direct to the stage late in the ceremony was electric, a standing ovation the GOAT coach almost had to quell or we might all still be waiting for it to dissipate naturally.
From Jay-Z’s live performance of “Public Service Announcement” – allowing Brady to reintroduce himself at Gillette the same way he did on great game days for decades – to TB12’s heartfelt and (big surprise) perfectly delivered speech to cap the historic night everything just kinda fell into its proper perspective and place.
Free agent departures to Tampa Bay were forgotten footnotes.
“I am Tom Brady and I am a Patriot,” Brady concluded.
Indeed.
A divorce from Belichick and the subsequent successes and failures of the two no longer seemingly needed to be passionately debated and dissected. Belichick was in the house for the “toast” to Brady just as he was a month earlier for the “roast” of the guy who brought him the best days of his coaching career, including the many individual meetings they shared in a two-way teachings sessions over the unprecedentedly successful years.
Bill or Tom? Brady or Belichick? The driving force of the Patriots’ dynasty wasn’t either guy according to the man of honor on this night, addressing the world for the first time the red jacket symbolic of his proper place among New England’s all-time greats. The greatest, actually.
“It wasn’t me. It wasn’t you. It was us,” Brady said.
Oh hell yeah!
“Let me make this crystal clear, there is no coach in the world I’d rather play for than Bill Belichick,” Brady said.
Or, just as importantly, group of fans to play in front of. Or teammates to work with. Or staff to have been supported by.
“Tonight is a celebration of everyone who ever cared about this organization,” Brady declared, appropriately and magnanimously in the way that should be expected by now from the guy who coaches, teammates and opponents agree found a way to be an even better person than he was a player.
“Feels good to be home,” Brady said, choking back tears after various points while soaking in the at-the-ready cheers from his fans, his people.
And if felt good for his home fans to have one more historic opportunity to welcome Brady back. The GOAT back at Gillette. Where he belongs.
Alongside his coach in Belichick. Embraced and honored by his friend/boss/mentor in Kraft.
On this night, Brady’s special night that was seemingly just as special if not more so for everyone else in attendance, it’s all good once again in Patriot Nation. All was right in the New England football world that got the kind of reflective, healing closure that it probably still needed.
“Nobody individually hangs those six banners,” Brady said of the display of six Super Bowl success stories hanging behind him. “The team does.”
Yup, a team led by the GOAT, Tom Brady.