Keeping Score: Tom Brady’s last dance 

Published: 02-03-2023 7:17 PM

Good morning!
The first recollection I have of hearing Tom Brady’s name was 22 years ago this August, when WBZ’s Gil Santos ended a morning sports report by saying Brady had been moved from fourth to second on the Patriots’ depth chart.

The previous year Brady had held the clipboard for all but three plays, and his only completion was a six yard pass to tight end Rod Rutledge in a 34-9 loss at Detroit on Thanksgiving.

The course of Patriot history changed the following year on Sept. 23, 2001, the first game since the terrorist attacks. Late in the fourth quarter of a 10-3 loss at the old Foxboro Stadium, Jets linebacker Mo Lewis ran full tilt into Patriots QB Drew Bledsoe and shouldered him out of bounds.

Bledsoe returned for the next series but was concussed and bleeding internally. Other Patriot players saw he was woozy and told the staff to get him out. Years later on the Dan Patrick Show, Bledsoe said, “After the game, I tried to go home. Thankfully, the doctors didn’t let me do that. If they let me go home, I would’ve died.

“I was bleeding out about a liter an hour internally. By the time they got me to the hospital, I was out. They were able to recycle my blood so they didn’t have to open my chest up, but it was pretty touch-and-go for a while.”

I was watching at Gary Sanderson’s house when the hit happened. Brady was just another backup to me, a player who wasn’t good enough to start in the NFL. Trying to be optimistic, I said that without Bledsoe the Patriots would go winless and get a high draft pick. They were coming off a 5-11 season and since 1989 were 78-114. Until Brady came along, that was the Patriot Way.

The following week they blew out the undefeated Colts, and eventually went on to win their last nine games including the Super Bowl. Little did anyone know that when No. 12 trotted onto the field that afternoon, we were about to see Tom Brady embark on the greatest football career of all time.

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Yesterday's Most Read Articles

Two east coast Kentucky Derby preps on today’s racing docket. At frigid Aqueduct, the aptly-named Arctic Arrogance trained by Linda Rice and ridden by brother-in-law Jose Lezcano will be the likely favorite in the 11/8 -mile Withers Stakes. Last year’s winner, Early Voting, skipped the Run for the Roses but won the Preakness.

At Gulfstream Park in Florida, Cyclone Mischief will be the horse to catch under Tyler Gaffalione in the 11/16 -mile Holy Bull Stakes. The three-year-old bay has two wins and a show in four career starts. Other contenders in the eight horse field are Legacy Isle with Luis Saez aboard, Shadow Dragon under Jose Ortiz and Lord Miles with brother Irad in the irons.

Rocket Can will leave from the eight post, and bettors won’t be discounting the Bill Mott-Junior Alvarado connection after Art Collector won last week’s Pegasus at 15-1.

Trainer Bob Baffert has all four horses entered in today’s Robert B. Lewis Stakes at Santa Anita Park — Newgate, Worcester, Hard to Figure and Arabian Lion. Meanwhile Todd Pletcher’s 3-year-old hopeful Forte was the only horse to close at single-digit odds (7-1) in the latest Kentucky Derby Futures Pool. Owned by Mike Repole, last year’s Breeders’ Cup Juvenile winner will be seeking its fifth win in six starts in next month’s Fountain of Youth at Gulfstream.

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Kimball Union coach Tim Whitehead responded to an email regarding senior forward Jackson Kyrkostas. “He’s a silky smooth player with great vision and hockey sense,” wrote Whitehead. “He’s committed to RPI for the 2024-25 season. Our other college-committed players are goalie Daniel Heroux (UVM), Jack Sadowski (UNH), and Mike Sullo (Trinity).”

Heroux made 23 saves in a 3-0 shutout at NMH on Wednesday. Sadowski had two goals and Kyrkostas added an assist.

The Wildcats (16-6-1) are ranked No. 6 in the New York and New England prep rankings by myhockeyrankings.com. NMH (10-7-1) is ranked 16th and nearly killed off a five-minute major until KUA’s AJ Noel slid one past Tommy Adams to break a scoreless tie midway through the second period.

Coach Kevin Czepiel’s Hoggers play on hard ice in a frigid rink with the same Spartan surroundings as Orr Rink in Amherst where his father-in-law Jack Arena coaches the Mammoths.

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QUOTE OF THE WEEK: When UMass grad Gerry Callahan got too hot for radio he moved to podcasting. Callahan covered the Pats-Eagles Super Bowl in Jacksonville and was chased and harassed by Eagles fans. Consequently he’s not fond of their ilk: “Eagles fans are like soccer thugs. They’re scum. They’re drunks. They’re vandals. They’re degenerates. They don’t need hotels, they sleep in their cars and spend all their money on Fireball. They wander the streets looking for fights. Thoughts and prayers for the people of Glendale, because Eagles fans are the worst.”

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HOT STOVE NEWS: Your Boston Red Sox are 16-1 to win the AL East, in front of only Baltimore at 25-1. The anomaly here is that while the Orioles’ over/under win total is 77.5, Boston’s is 76.5. Go figure. Other win totals of interest: the Yankees and Mets are both 95.5, the Blue Jays are 93.5 and the Rays are 88.5.

The Red Sox season opener is eight weeks from Thursday against Baltimore. Start saving your money, two seats in Monster Zone 1 cost $1,822 and two field box seats behind third base cost $458; even a pair of bleacher seats cost $92.

I dug out an old Red Sox press guide and found that in 1991 when Jean Yawkey owned the team and Haywood Sullivan was the General Partner, field boxes cost $16 apiece, grandstand seats were $10 and the bleachers cost $6. But that was then and this is now, and n’er the twain shall meet.

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SQUIBBERS: Longtime college and high school official Tim Schmitt on the 15-yard personal foul penalty that led to the Chiefs’ game-winning field goal: “I think it was a good call and if you didn’t call it you better get out of town when the QB doesn’t get up.” … Bradley Cooper and Jeffrey Lurie were yukking it up in the owner’s box on Sunday. Cooper must be doing a movie, how else to explain that crazy hairdo? … Eagles receiver DeVonta Smith and Kevin Durant share the same nickname: ‘The Slim Reaper.’ … Retired Navy Petty Officer 1st Class Generald Wilson’s stirring rendition of the national anthem at Arrowhead Stadium caused a tear to run down the cheek of one Chiefs player. … The pressure’s on Rob Gronkowski to kick a 25-yard field goal next week so that bettors who risk at least $5 on the FanDuel app will be eligible for a share of $10 million in free bets. … Remember when UMass won faceoffs? Last week in Lowell they lost 43 of 62 to the River Hawks. … Cheers to the Pioneer boys hoops team (11-2) for sitting eighth in the state’s MIAA D-5 rankings. … 49ers fans were peeved to see Jimmy G smiling on the sideline while their team was getting pounded. Said fans should ease up on Brock Purdy, who must’ve been in incredible pain after his elbow injury. … Former Cowboys scout Glenn Smith, to a Dallas TV station on what impact Stetson Bennett’s public drunkenness arrest will have on his draft status: “You want to know who you’re cutting million dollar checks to. He’s a 5-10 guy, so scouts will start knocking that, and now he’s out drinking in Dallas till the world looks flat.”

Chip Ainsworth is an award-winning columnist who has penned his observations about sports for decades in the Pioneer Valley. He can be reached at chipjet715@icloud.com

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