Update: reflecting on Tom Brady's career

By Noah Hickman

Courtesy: @patriots

The first day of February was a warm and sunny one and all signs pointed to a great day.

At least that is what I indicated; I was dead wrong.

After an illustrious 22-year career, Tom Brady temporarily called it quits.

He announced his retirement in an Instagram post on February 1 and officially un-retired on Sunday .

A few days before Brady announced his retirement ESPN’s Senior NFL Insider, Adam Schefter, prematurely announced Brady’s retirement and said "multiple sources" believed it was the end.

Brady said he needed more time to reflect on what he wanted to do, but man…that did not take long.

Because of his surprising announcement in which he later changed his mind I want to express my gratitude as well as the love-hate relationship I had with Brady throughout his career.

When I first started watching the NFL, I was in the basement of my mom and dad’s house.

My dad was watching his Miami Dolphins play and told me that was his favorite team.

I remain a Dolphins fan today because of that moment.

I learned the context of why my dad became a Miami fan a little further down the road.

When the Dolphins were on the verge of having an undefeated season in 1972, they had one obstacle in the way of that becoming a reality.

They were set to play the then Washington Redskins in the Super Bowl.

My dad made a bet with his dad and said that Miami would pull out the victory.

He won that bet as the Dolphins won 14-7; he has been a fan ever since.

The glory days were in full effect as we had so many Dolphins greats like Mercury Morris, Larry Csonka, Dan Marino, Mark Clayton and Don Shula.

Ironically, it was the beginning for this young Dolphins team and like in a movie series, the best came first.

The New England Patriots were the butt of every joke back then, but (no pun intended) got their first huge break when they drafted Michigan quarterback Tom Brady in the sixth round, pick 199.

With Boston sports being so prominent, all that was left on the city’s bucket list was a great football team.

They got that and more with Brady and Belichick at the helm as they guided the Patriots to six super bowl wins.

It is absolutely crazy how a team can go from zero to tying the Pittsburgh Steelers in most total Super Bowls won in less than two decades.

On top of that, Brady got one more with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers putting him in a class of his own.

Right now, he has more Super Bowl wins than any franchise in the league.

Now, if you had told me the above 10 years ago while showing me proof, I would have burned down the house.

I am not only a Dolphins fan, but also a diehard Peyton Manning fan.

As a child, and in my early teenage years, I hated Tom Brady with a passion.

I always wanted him to lose, and I despised people who compared him to Manning.

I believed he was the beneficiary of great luck and thought he only got as far as he did because he was a cheater.

Even though the Patriots had two big scandals in Spygate and Deflategate, I learned quickly that Brady having three rings was not an accident.

The Malcolm Butler interception in Super Bowl 49 gave me confirmation bias that Brady has all the luck in the world.

He has had a lot, but it is not entirely true that his team has always been lucky.

The catches by former Giants receivers David Tyree and Mario Manningham cost Brady two rings.

Not to mention the insane juggling catch by former Seahawks receiver Jermaine Kearse almost cost the Patriots again.

It was not until commissioner Roger Goodell abused his power by rehashing a four-game suspension in 2016 that I started to somewhat cheer for Brady.

Brady originally got a four-game suspension in 2015 for his alleged role in Deflategate, but U.S. District Court Judge Richard M. Berman vacated his suspension.

Being the power-hungry guy that Goodell is he slapped Brady with the same four-game suspension next season.

At that point, I did not care if Brady had any role in deflating footballs.

I viewed Goodell as a tyrant whose decision to suspend Brady with no clear evidence that he committed the wrongdoing that he was accused of as dictator-like and Un-American (innocent until proven guilty).

I imagined him whining in his bunker about the court overruling him and crying like a baby saying, “nobody defies me!”

When the Patriots made the Super Bowl and were set to take on the Atlanta Falcons, I did something that I have never done before…I cheered for the Patriots.

I wanted Brady to complete his ‘F*** You Tour’, and he did so in the most dramatic fashion, coming back from a 28-3 deficit.

At that point, I was ready to admit that he was the GOAT.

I was tired of vouching for Peyton Manning being better, he would never have done that on the world’s biggest stage.

From that point forward, I watched Brady play with the utmost appreciation for him as a player and person.

I am so glad that I got the opportunity to witness his greatness instead of comparing it.

It might have come later, but as the saying goes, "better late than never."

I appreciate Brady so much now that I never wanted him to retire.

When I heard the official news from him on Instagram, a part of me died.

The reason not only being because I thought he was going to play until he was 50, but because pretty much all the greats that I watched growing up are gone.

Father time is undefeated though. It might not always take a physical toll, but it always finds a way to win.

But for now, we get to see Brady play at least another season.