Tom Brady: New England Patriots quarterback is the man some people love to hate despite GOAT status
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The Road To Super Bowl LIII |
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Super Bowl LIII: Live on BBC One from 23:30 GMT on Sunday, 3 February |
"Everybody thinks we suck."
Those were the words of Tom Brady just one week ago. Fast forward seven days and his New England Patriots are going to the Super Bowl for the third year in a row after beating the Kansas City Chiefs in an overtime thriller.
Super Bowl LIII will be Brady's ninth. The 41-year-old has more Super Bowl appearances than every other franchise in NFL history.
He's the five-time champion quarterback, the GOAT of American football.
Not bad for the man who was the 199th pick in the 2000 NFL draft.
Tom Brady stats |
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Five-time Super Bowl champion |
Eight Super Bowl appearances |
Four-time Super Bowl most valuable player |
Three-time NFL most valuable player |
Brady does divide opinion, particularly in the US. A quick glance at Twitter shows he is the man some people seem to really love to hate.
Despite being far from the best-paid NFL player (that award goes to Green Bay Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers), Brady still leads the epitome of celebrity lifestyles.
He's married to Brazilian supermodel Gisele, flies his personal trainer around the world with him, and his "treat" food is raw macaroons or avocado-flavoured ice cream.
But he also allegedly got the Patriots' back-up quarterback traded to another team, and is also alleged to have ordered the deliberate deflating of balls used in the 2014-15 AFC Championship Game. For that act, which Brady denies, he was suspended for four games and the Patriots were fined $1m.
Despite the mixed appreciation for him, Twitter was mainly full of Tom Brady loving on Sunday night.
The president is his biggest fan (and, apparently, vice versa)
He amazes even an eight-division world boxing champion
He's Captain America's hero
'Soccer' players love him
And even athletes turned wannabe 'soccer' players
So has Brady silenced his haters? Who knows, but they will have to put up with him a little while longer. The 41-year-old wants to carry on playing until he's at least 45.
But before then, he's got Super Bowl LIII against the Los Angeles Rams after which we'll no doubt be debating his virtues once again.