July 14, 2020
By: Martin Fennelly
TAMPA, Fla. – We really do need Tom Brady and the Bucs to get to training camp, quickly. The man has too much time on his hands.
Walking into the wrong house was one thing. Practicing in a Tampa park that was off-limits was another. Also, the charity golf tournaments/Peyton Manning deathmatch. And there was Brady openly flouting NFL social-distancing guidelines by gathering his new teammates for workouts. And there is Brady possibly, maybe, perhaps hanging out with Florida hot-spot governor and fellow Trump-nik Ron DeSantis, who clearly has nothing better to do in a pandemic, either.
Plus, there is TB12, Brady’s health and wellness company, receiving hundreds of thousands of dollars in pandemic relief and federal stimulus. Guess it pays to play golf with the right people.
Can we get to the football already?
Or at least hit the recruiting trail?
Translation: Randy Moss, come on down!
That’s right. As if reeling Rob Gronkowski out of retirement was not enough, Brady is playfully (or not so playfully) trying to entice decidedly retired Hall of Fame receiver Randy Moss into the mix.
“Hey, Randy, Bucs red would look good on you! Have a few snaps left?” Brady tweeted with Moss after a 12 interview with Religion of Sports, another one of his brainchildren.
Moss just as playfully tweeted, “Thanks 4 the memories, TB! Really … come tryout 4 this team? I won’t make that team wit dem boys! I’ll take my memories and RUNNNNNN.”
This is not reality-based. Moss is 43 years old and has not caught a football in over 10 years. Then again, 43 is just a number to Brady, who turns that age in early August. And what’s the fun of having the greatest quarterback ever, if he can’t send us running around like crazy people when he crooks his finger in the general direction of another all-time great?
It’s the game within the game with Brady.
Fact: Randy Moss is not coming to play for the Bucs. Interesting idea, but beyond far-fetched, as Moss is entrenched in his career in the media (ESPN football analyst) after a lifetime of hating the media. Don’t you love irony?
But isn’t the sheer aura of Brady amazing? He could say most anything and you might chase it, even begin to believe it, even just a little. Makes me wish he’d start wearing a mask around town.
Anyway, Uncle Randy isn’t coming here. If Brady really wants to extend an invite, he should consider finding a blind-side tackle, since Bucs lineman Donovan Smith is considering not playing this proposed COVID-19 season out of family concerns. Who can blame him? Maybe Brady should start playing golf with former Browns all-pro offensive lineman Joe Thomas. While Brady is at it, maybe he could help shore up the Bucs defense by bringing in former Pats teammate Rodney Harrison, who is only 48.
I will admit that the exhaust fumes got to me when I heard Brady, Moss, and Bucs in the same sentence. Why, in New England’s near-perfect 2007, Brady threw 50 touchdown passes, 23 to Moss. The two of them nearly saved 19-0 when they connected on a late TD in the Super Bowl against the underdog Giants, only to have New York march on down to the upset score.
But Brady-to-Moss was a dizzying idea. Mind you, if the Bucs are chock full of anything, it’s Brady targets, like Mike Evans and Chris Godwin, not to mention his 2.3 million tight ends, Gronkowski, Cameron Brate, and O.J. Howard among them. People to throw a football at, will not be a Brady-Bucs problem this season. Controlling wild-fire rumors, now that will be a problem. A fun problem, but a problem, especially when TB starts it.
Can we get to training camp already, to, you know, the football?
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