Many Patriots fans expressed disappointment when Tom Brady didn’t mention the Patriots in his initial statement announcing his retirement from the NFL earlier this week. But not Gov. Charlie Baker.
“I have no hurt feelings, mixed feelings, none of that about Tom Brady,” Baker said at an unrelated press conference. “He was a real gift to this region if you care about football, and you want to have that opportunity to be able to watch and appreciate truly one of the greatest performers on any stage of athletics, ever.”
Baker knew his opinion would be unpopular, “but since I’m not running for re-election,” he said with a smile, he gave a passionate monologue as he opined about Brady’s legacy.
“When he left, he showered the team, the coaches, the Krafts, and the fan base with adulation and love,” he said. “I may be 65, but my memory is not that broken. I remember everything he said about how much he appreciated all of us here in New England.”
He then recalled the earliest days of the Patriots, then stadium-less and known as “the Boston Patriots,” which played in venues like Fenway Park and the Harvard Stadium. “It was hard. I mean, you didn’t win very many games,” he said.
He said that Brady gave him and other Patriots fans hope every Sunday, and a real shot at continuing to play into February, when the Super Bowl is held.
“For all those for whom they grew up, never knowing what it was really like to be a Patriots fan in the old days, OK? The gratitude that I feel to the team, to the organization and especially to him for giving us this astonishing — he played 22 years,” Baker said, his voice rising. “Half of them, he was in the Super Bowl. It just doesn’t happen. Yet it did, and we got to watch, so I’m incredibly grateful for all of it.”
