Belichick Went the Bucs' Locker Room and Met With Brady for 20 Minutes and I Need Video of That Conversation More Than I Need Air
In all the chaos, emotion, tension, excitement and disappointment of the biggest regular season game in any sport in maybe forever, this little episode is by far the most surreal. And it has to be unprecedented. As far as anyone can confirm, in the 20 years and one month since Gillette Stadium opened, Bill Belichick had never set foot in the visitor's locker room, other than to supervise the crew installing all the listening devices. For him to make that long walk after watching one of the most dramatic wins of his career bounce off the upright from 56 yards away just serves to further drive home the point this was a moment in history unlike anything we've ever seen. Or will ever see, unless Brady is still quarterbacking the Bucs when they return in eight years. And I'm no one should rule it out.
Which begs the question, what did they talk about? I mean, 20 minutes might not sound like a long time, but bear in mind that an episode of "It's Always Sunny" is about 22 minutes. And that Gang can get into a lot of madcap hijinks in that much time. Try to think of the last one-on-one conversation you've had with someone where one or both of you didn't get distracted by your phones or interrupted by something on TV that's way more interesting than your boring friend.
On FMIA, Peter King describes the GOAT Summit:
The extraordinary night ended with Belichick himself walking into the Tampa Bay locker room to seek out Brady for a face-to-face they never had in the 18 months since Brady phoned him one night in March 2020 to say he’d be moving on in free-agency. Gabbert was sitting in the locker room with receivers Mike Evans, Antonio Brown and Chris Godwin when they saw Belichick walk in. “We were like, Did we see what we all think we just saw?” Gabbert said. Sure did. ... Brady declined to get into specifics about their meeting. He did, however, push back against those who have characterized their parting as acrimonious.
“It was a very personal, private thing,” Brady said. “We’ve always had that type of relationship where we can say things to each other. You know, whoever characterizes our relationship is completely wrong. People want to focus on so much stuff that’s so unimportant. You know? We were together for 20-plus years and we were so productive and successful and I learned so much from him. Loved my experience here, loved my relationship with him. ...
“We’d known each other for 20-plus years,” Brady said, “and when I left here, we just didn’t have a chance—he was out of town—to meet. When I went down to Tampa it was Covid. I was thinking about my season and so was he. It was just, we’ve known each other for a long time, and we didn’t have a chance to talk, and tonight we did, and it was great.”
Try to imagine some of the most significant conversations in human history. The discussions the ramifications of which shaped the course of world events forever. Moses demanding the Pharaoh let his people go. Socrates teaching Plato who taught Aristotle. Leonidas refusing to bend the knee to Xerxes. Pontius Pilate interrogating Christ. Columbus convincing Queen Isabella to fund his journey. Tesla's bet with Edison about AC vs DC current. FDR, Churchill and Stalin a Yalta. Reagan and Gorbachev agreeing to reduce nuclear arms. And now, Belichick and Brady ("It's Always Sunny" reference number two. That's my limit.) squashing their beef.
For once I hope the Patriots do have the visiting locker room bugged, so maybe there's a recording of this. Even something we'll have to wait years before it's released to the public. Like the Nixon Tapes or Jerry Lewis' Holocaust comedy "The Day the Clown Cried." Even if it took decades, I'd wait. Stay on life support if I had to.
Though I respect Brady not dishing to Peter King or anyone else about it. Private conversations need to be entombed in a sealed mausoleum of privacy. Especially between two men who achieved so much together. Still, I can't help but think if we knew what they said, it'd would unlock all the secrets of the nature of existence or something.
What we do know is their conversation, whatever else was said, exposes all this stuff about animosity and resentments and "rifts" for the steaming horseshit that it is. There can be no doubt that there was tension between them. How could there not be? All that time and all that work and job pressure is the perfect environmental condition for tension to grow. And yet they made it work for an impossibly long period of time. And to unimaginable success. That speaks to a level of understanding and commitment to one another than no outsider could ever hope to understand. Which, I will add, manifested itself in the game because Brady played, for the first time in seemingly forever, like he was intimidated by the opposition just a bit.
And so when anonymous sources and talk show know-it-alls paint this portrait of their relationship falling apart under a tsunami of resentment because Belichick wasn't there in person when Brady showed up to Mr. Kraft's house to hug goodbye, they're ignoring more than the fact the Brady's lived on RKK's street and Belichick has a place on Nantucket and we were in the early days of lockdowns. They're conveniently forgetting these two - and the team owner - have a bond no one else can fathom. So when Belichick gave his old QB the quick shoulder-bump bro hug, it was, like I said, just to avoid giving the media jackals with the cameras their moment. The real reunion was to come later. In private. Man-to-man. Eye-to-eye. And I'll add, heart-to-heart.
So yes, that should stay just between them. But if anyone has a transcript, I've got the cash. My kid can always work his way through community college like I did.