Herald - Tom Brady spent the weekend in Brazil, but yesterday he was front and center for the start of the Patriots conditioning program. Brady’s world travels kept him from full-time participation in last year’s program, but he seemed to send a message with his arrival yesterday on the first full day of optional workouts. Newly acquired wide receiver Greg Lewis certainly was impressed. While he and Brady didn’t throw any passes - yesterday was about weightlifting - he liked what he saw of the quarterback, who is recovering from season-ending knee surgery. “I met Tom today at a workout and in the locker room,” said Lewis, who recently was acquired from the Eagles. “He came up to me and welcomed me to the team. He seemed like a great guy. I’ve seen him on film do great things. I’m just looking forward to (getting to work).”

For months now I've been listening to naysayers telling me that Brady is not coming back healthy and he's grown soft and being married will have a negative effect and he doesn't have the fire in the belly anymore and all sort of negative crap. Well how you like them apples? The first chance that Brady has to prove he's the same guy he ever was... the one who made it from the bench at Michigan to the top of the football world through sheer dedication... he passes the test with flying colors. You know what defines "fire in the belly"? It's climbing down off your supermodel wife at her mansion in the tropics and flying back to Foxboro in mid-March so you can take part in a voluntary workout. It's not hiding behind excuses when you could legitimately back out of the workouts by saying you need to rest your knee. It's about being a leader and showing your new teammates how we do things in New England instead of being a whiny, self-absorbed little sissy like Jay Cutler. It's about taking that first step on the road to proving that Tom Brady is coming back and he's bringing all hell with him.