Yep, it’s easy to despise Tom Brady, also known as ‘‘Mr. Perfect.’’
He’s tall, smart, handsome, athletic (if not fast), rich beyond reason, incredibly successful, married to the prettiest woman in the world and —oh, yeah — plays quarterback for a team that returns to the Super Bowl the way apple blossoms return to old trees.
How can we not hate somebody who has it all?
Still, how weird is it that there is such contempt for an athlete who — to my knowledge — never has been arrested, beaten his kids, been caught in a crack house, used steroids, had weed in his glove box, said evil things on TV, bribed a cop or even kicked a dog?
In truth, not liking Brady says more about us than it does about him. Other people’s success hurts us in the way it reflects our own imperfect lives.
Good Lord, Brady doesn’t eat salt, white sugar, white flour, eggplant, tomatoes or fruit? He avoids all ‘‘inflammatory’’ foods? Hey, that’s pretty much what our own diets consist of — you know, stuff that tastes good, such as French fries, potato chips, cheeseburgers, bacon, etc.
And this lunacy works for him!
Clearly, something is working for him. He’s 41 and finishing his 19th season in the NFL by playing in his ninth Super Bowl, five of which he has won.
Some opposing players mumble that Brady is getting old and has lost his edge.
‘‘He’s definitely not the quarterback he was,’’ Rams cornerback and Super Bowl foe Nickell Robey-Coleman said the other day. ‘‘Movement. Speed. Velocity. Arm strength.’’
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Well, of course, he’s not the same guy he was at 25 or 35. Age happens. Duh.
But Brady is still an incredible quarterback. His performance in the AFC Championship Game against the Chiefs was a thing of beauty and skill, something 23-year-old Chiefs phenom Patrick Mahomes only could stare at and marvel over.
Yes, Brady has that sort of weirdness about health and nutrition that Hollywood celebrities often have, something that can irritate us because it reminds us, again, of all the ways we abuse this thing called our bodies and the way pretty people don’t.
His book ‘‘The TB12 Method’’ is a 306-page diet blueprint for how you, too, can worship at your physical temple. The dude drinks up to 2.5 gallons — or almost 21 pounds — of specialty water a day.
But forget the extremism and simply ponder, if you can, the phenomenal, transcendent brilliance Brady has visited upon the NFL. He is, without question, the most dominant postseason quarterback ever. He comes back to the Super Bowl like a genius returning to the lab.
And he absolutely is not retiring, saying he hopes to play until he’s 45. Be careful what you blabbed about, Mr. Robey-Coleman. Revenge might be in the air.
People say it’s boring or disgusting the way the Patriots and Brady are always around when it matters. The Deflategate and Spygate scandals and all the other devious aspects of the Patriots have taken a toll on us, that’s for sure.
But think about what you’re watching in this up-by-the-bootstraps jock. He started at the bottom, you know. Have you forgotten that Brady was never a pampered superstar, that he didn’t start at Michigan until his junior season, that he alternated with Drew Henson in his senior season, that he was the 199th pick in the 2000 NFL Draft and that he rode the pine early on as the Patriots’ third-string quarterback?
And now he holds so many NFL records — with so many more within reach — that it’s ridiculous. Last year in Super Bowl LII, when he was a mere 40, Brady passed for an incredible 505 yards against the Eagles.
Yet winning is what he’s best at. He has the most regular-season victories (207), the most division titles (16), the most playoff victories (29) and, of course, the most Super Bowl titles (five) by a quarterback.
And remember that Brady hasn’t always been surrounded by tons of talent. You think Julian Edelman, Chris Hogan and Cordarrelle Patterson are an elite wide-receiver corps?
Brady is literally old enough to be some NFL players’ father. Yet on he surges, almost kidlike.
It might be hard, but try to enjoy the brilliance of what you’re watching with him. Try not to be a hater. And eat something healthy while you’re at it.
