"Knee" England Mourns the Loss of Its Golden Boy

Yuck. Knees really aren't supposed to bend like that.

If you're here, you've probably already heard the news that New England Patriot's QB Tom Brady is a wrap for the season. All this talk about consecutive starts, Tom always gets up, ended in the blink of an eye - or a blow to the knee.

While I'm sure this makes some teams and players happy, to any real competitor worth his salt, this should be seen for what it is: a terrible thing.

Brady's departure during the first quarter of the first game was probably the last thing anyone thought was possible - kind of like seeing Superman knocked down. Remember when he was in that foot cast gallivanting around town with Giselle? No one (including me) thought it was a realistic possibility that he was not going to play - and he did indeed play.

So yesterday, when he was screaming on the field, didn't get up, and didn't at least return to the sidelines for the rest of the game, the Patriots must have known this time was serious, but I'm sure they hadn't allowed themselves to believe he was really going to be done.

Of course, now the Patriots will have very low expectations from here on out this season, considering their backup QB, Matt Cassel, has been a groomsmen and never a groom since he was in high school. Cassel says he's ready, and he did eek out a win yesterday, but even he had to admit he's no Tom Brady. Not too many guys are, Cassel, and therein lies the significance of the loss. Ironically, I mused in a post about eleven months ago about whether it's the QB, the other players on offense, or the blocker that made the Pats so good. I guess we'll finally get our answer.

As I said before, any true competitor is upset by this. No one should want to beat the team minus its star - the win's just not as sweet when there's an asterisk after it in the minds of everyone, including the now-winner.

This reminds me of what happened to Lolo Jones (whose good looks make this an even better analogy than I had anticipated) in the Olympics a few weeks ago. In case you missed it, Jones was the far and away favorite to win the gold medal in the 100m hurdles. And for the first eight hurdles of the race, she held a commanding lead and was well on her way to a win. But, God had another plan. Instead of clearing that one like she'd done the others, her foot hit it, and - miraculously - she kept her balance but faltered enough to leave her with a seventh place finish. Had she tripped over the first hurdle, the eventual winner, Dawn Harper, might have had greater cause for celebration (at least in my book - she was quite ecstatic when she won). But Jones fell after she was way ahead, which made everyone who came behind her seem more like also-rans (pun more than apropos) than winners. Not to take anything from the medal winners, but I would much rather beat the champion than have the champion get taken out by something or someone having nothing to do with me.

So goes Brady, who also "hit the hurdle" after having already established himself as the leader in the race for the top the QB of his generation. No viable argument can be made that any QB playing today has come close to what he's done at such a young age and with such dominance, and just that fast, beating the Pats just took on a whole lot less significance.

The NFL is certainly going to be brooding for a long time. There go the ratings, the merchandise, the fans at the games of terrible teams who showed up just to see Brady and his Pats.

And finally, Brady himself. What's he going to do all year? Actually, I'm sure he'll be right there with the team as much as humanly possible for an injured person. Good thing that the football season is short so he won't have to suffer through it too long. I'm not a big Pats fan but I am sorry to see him gone, just out of the pure love of knowing I'm seeing the best of the best compete.

Oh, and there is one more greatly affected party who ESPN won't lament in the weeks to come: fantasy owners who thought they had it made in the shade when they got Brady. Good thing I waited too late to play because with my penchant for winning drawings, that probably would have been me. And this post would have been a lot less pleasant.

Here's to a speedy recovery, Tommy. We'll miss you.