I am 47 and I don't agree at all. I hated watching the Pats of the late 80s, early 90s. I did enjoy both SB runs in 85 and 96 but nothing compares to watching the GOAT for 20 years. And I am not just talking about ALL the wins but the way he played the position. His competitive fire that was second to none and his big game, clutch moments that made me jump off my couch too many times to count.
Perhaps the best part was watching him go past all the other great QBs of the game - Marino, Elway, Montana and then his contemporaries Manning, Favre, Brees. And now we get the joy of watching every young QB get compared to his historic resume.
Football won't be the same for sure for me. But it is not just Brady but also the game itself with the bogus rules, Roger's ridiculous and unfair disciplinary actions and the refs blatantly rigging games. In many ways, Brady was a throw back QB especially when compared to today's young gunslingers but to me the game has become unrecognizable. I will always be a Pats fan and root for the team but man, what a ride we had for 20 years.
I don't know that we disagree - maybe? I lknow the good and the meh teams, and the true garbage teams, actually prepped me to get the absolute most out of that ride.
Here's something you remember at your age. 90s bandwagon Cowboys fans, in it for the temporary dynasty. I mean, the threat of the Cowboys just looked omnipresent back then, right? And these guys just didn't want to hang with their Patriots, or Jets, or Bengals, or whoever. They wanted somebody to root for who might actually do something,. I could never really do that, not even when Tommy was in Tampa Bay. I was happy for him, as a fav. player, winning with Tampa, but it wasn't really like having "another team." There were just no stakes. The stakes come from looking for ways it can all happen, even when there are bad odds. Just giving up and saying "I know how it can happen, I'll look for a team that's good, then there's no risk in getting into them winning. They're going to come pretty close, guaranteed," doesn't work for me. But neither does JETE level self-loathing mind you, but there's a lot of middle ground there for the sweet spot.
I don't expect to ever see the equal of this 20 year run or even anything comparable. I just remind myself that the actual players have to be out there physically working to make their belief into something real, so I have pretty cush job as a fan.
I don't think football will be the same for any Pats fan after these 20 years, and in terms of how your "football fan life" goes, if the Pats became a laughingstock, God forbid, I'd still die with more to be happy for than any non-Pats fan.
On your topline point, competitive fire is a narrative that fits him. He also won an inordinate amount. There are other guys out there that reeked of competitive fire. They just didn't win that much.
I think we say that as a handy stand-in that doesn't sound nerdy for "all intangibles." What I saw was he had total command of the field. He knew exactly what he was seeing and he knew it FAST. Just watching him almost seemed to slow down the game. It was fielder's choice how to dissect the defense. He also knew in real time exactly what broke down, could chew you out on national TV, then next play go right back to you and celebrate when it worked. And he knew to do that. Think who else inherently gets that, what each guy actually needs to be their best. When I say "each guy," I obviously can't be bothered with the ones he just couldn't be bothered with in his later years here. I mean, have you ever seen a receiver say, "I'm a good receiver with this QB over here, Tom Brady just didn't get me"? He seems to just be over running the "make Reche Caldwell a no. 1 receiver" phase of life. He needs to have some kind of complementary talent level.
OK, lots of asides. More just reminiscing than arguing.
