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From faceless backup to face of the franchise in 10 years - The Boston Globe
Interesting look back on TFB's start in New England.
Interesting look back on TFB's start in New England.
It’s like thumbing through your high school yearbook and discovering that the wallflower you ignored in US History turned out to be Angelina Jolie.
Tom Brady was here 10 years ago and we barely noticed.
In the old Foxboro Stadium locker room, the kid from San Mateo, Calif., via the University of Michigan had a stall along the row where Drew Bledsoe dressed. Brady regularly had to make room for reporters who wanted to speak with Bledsoe.
Drew was the Patriots’ franchise quarterback. Drew was the three-time Pro Bowler who had led the Patriots to a Super Bowl in 1996. Drew was the guy with the 10-year, $103 million contract extension.
Brady was . . . in the way.
I was there, but I don’t remember Brady. (The soundtrack to this column is Joan Osborne’s “[What If God Was] One Of Us?’’) Who bothers to pay attention to a sixth-round pick who never plays? Like most of the other reporters, I was working to get words from big Drew. Tom Brady wasn’t even Brian Hoyer.
...
Longtime publicist Stacey James remembers rookie Brady in 2000, and says, “He used to overhear me arranging to take Drew upstairs for press conferences. Tom would tease me and say, ‘When’s my press conference?’ I told him to be careful what you wish for.’’
Globe multimedia producer Alan Miller was part of the Patriots “All-Access’’ crew in 2000, and remembers, “We profiled just about everybody that year, and by the end of the season, we were running out of guys, so we profiled Brady, about how he was drafted by the Montreal Expos and went to the same high school as Barry Bonds. He told us he loved watching ‘All-Access.’ ’’
...
“The broadcast production crew had a meeting with Belichick before the first 2001 preseason game,’’ said Miller. “We asked him who would improve the most, and he cited Stephen Neal and Tom Brady.
“He went on and on about Brady and what a leader he was, and at the end of that meeting, I walked out and said to the others, ‘Bledsoe’s not long for this job.’ ’’
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