When Doug and I first met it was obvious that his favorite NFL player was Walter Payton. He grew up near Chicago and watched the famed running back play, so it only made sense. Almost no one back then, however, would have guessed who Doug's second favorite player would become - Tom Brady. As an avid Big Ten football fan and a proud supporter of IU football, there were many seasons that Doug had to choose a different team than the Hoosiers to cheer for as Indiana spent many years irrelevant in the conference championship race. IU rarely made it to a bowl and even when they did they lost well more than they won. Thus, Doug's interest in Tom Brady dated back to the quarterback's Michigan years and only grew when he became the dominant force in the NFL with the New England Patriots. They won six championships with Brady at the helm. Last year it looked like he had peaked and most football enthusiasts thought that he would retire at the end of the 2019 season, especially when his long time coach let it be known that it was time for the famous Patriot to find another team.
Last spring, however, the news out of the NFL world changed with reports that Tom Brady still wanted to play. Rumors surrounded teams that were interested in him and ones that he would be interested in playing for in the fall of 2020. The rumor that most caught the Heinisch family's attention was that Brady was thinking about moving to Chicago. Unfortunately, that was short lived as he announced that he and his family were ready for warmer temperatures. Tampa Bay was the lucky team to have peaked his interest and soon Tom Brady was in a Buccaneers uniform. Doug was happy to hear that he would play another year and I was glad to have an idea of what to get him for his birthday - a Bucs shirt.
The year started off slow for Tampa Bay and their newest player and with that the amount of haters that criticized him for not retiring only grew. None of this surprised Doug as he knew that it would take some time for the Brady to adjust to a new team even though several of his former Patriot teammates followed him to the sunshine state. Doug was also not shocked by the amount of negative press that Brady was receiving. There were many in the country who did not share Doug's enthusiasm for the future hall of famer. In fact nothing garnished more negative comments in our area then when Doug wore his Patriots jersey out to dinner and I could definitely remember a few times that Meg and I were booed when we wore it to school on jersey day.
Fortunately, the Bucs started to peak just as playoff season began and tonight knocked off a favored New Orleans Saint team that was saying goodbye to their own long time quarterback, Drew Brees. Everyone in our family was surprised by the upset except for Cameron. He had said all day that Tampa Bay would win. Thankfully, he was correct and next week we will all get to watch Tom Brady take on Aaron Rogers and the Packers. For the Bears and Brady fans in the Heinisch home, nothing would be sweeter than a victory in Lambeau Field and a tenth trip to the Super Bowl for Doug's favorite quarterback.
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