We’ve all been there. When a relationship ends, the rules are clear: Don’t linger, don’t look at old pictures of good times, don’t send that DM. But next thing you know, you’re doom-scrolling down Instagram and seeing the other person living the good life in Florida with someone new. Your stomach sinks into a pit.
It hasn’t even been a year since Tom Brady left New England , where he had been a Patriot since 2000, for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Now, after six Super Bowl rings and countless memories, Pats fans are navigating the sometimes mixed emotions of seeing their ex-QB getting ready for Super Bowl LV, where he'll lead the Bucs against the Kansas City Chiefs on Sunday.
For Rob Silver, the founder of The Patriot Fans of Tampa Bay , a fan club in Brady’s new neck of the woods, it’s been an especially awkward time. Like other Patriot fans, he thought Brady would stay in New England.
“Lo and behold, he comes to Tampa," he said. "My first reaction was — I’m gonna be honest with you — Tampa doesn’t deserve the G.O.A.T.”
Silver said Bucs fans, who he describes as largely the fair weather variety, used to mock Brady and the Patriots as cheaters and rulebreakers, standard fare for anti-Pats partisans. But when Brady went down to the Sunshine State, the mood shifted dramatically.
“Once they found out that Tom Brady was coming to Tampa, all of a sudden he don’t cheat! They’re all excited!," he said. "I don’t blame ‘em. But, again, I was still a little, I’m still a little upset, a little bitter, just like I’m sure a lot of fans are.”
Silver's home office is filled with Patriots memorabilia, from a framed Brady jersey to a ball from Super Bowl XXXVI signed by Number Twelve himself. Silver estimates he's spent over $20,000 on Pats gear and items over the years.
He’ll be happy for Brady if he wins and he’s excited for the city of Tampa, where’s he’s lived for more than twenty years. But he definitely hasn’t hopped on the Bucs bandwagon.
It’s been so painful seeing Brady celebrating Tampa victories on social media, like he once did in New England, that Silver’s gone out of his way to ignore what he puts up.
“I had to delete his Instagram posts, man, ‘cause now he’s doing the same thing for [the] Buccaneers, it’s not the same, you know what I mean?” he said. “But like I said, the man gave us twenty years of joy, of loving a team. And you’ve got to root for him. If you don’t, then you’re not a true fan.”
Other fans have taken a different approach.
Jairah Zinni, a nurse, is one of eight vaccinated healthcare workers from Massachusetts General Hospital the Patriots are taking to the Super Bowl as their guests.
Zinni's rooting for the Bucs and Brady, even though she senses others are acting kind of like the ex-wife. She said she knows of Pats fans who were keeping up with Brady even before he reached the championship game.
“So the conversations I’ve been having, it’s really interesting to see how a lot people were really true Brady fans. And they actually really appreciated watching him play," she said. "I found out that a lot more people were watching his games, even when we were struggling with our own. So I think that was an interesting dynamic to see how many people [were] really dedicated to how Brady plays and, you know, what he looks like on the field.”
Michelle Diop, an internal medicine resident at MGH who is also going to Tampa, stressed that the trip is only possible because of COVID-19 vaccines. She said being able to go to the Super Bowl is a bright light in a sea of darkness.
She’s a longtime Pats fan who's pulling for Brady.
“Obviously, I wish he was still on the Patriots because I don’t have any Buccaneers gear,” she said. “But it’s still going to be unreal to see him and Gronk. For him, hopefully, this is not his last Super Bowl, but potentially it could be. And so that is pretty awesome to say that I saw Brady at his last Super Bowl. But it’ll be weird to see him a different uniform, for sure … but good for him. Change is always good.”
When Brady split with New England, it felt like he took everything but the stadium: a winning record, the seemingly annual trip to the Super Bowl — he even got primary custody of Rob Gronkowski.
For his part, Brady took the high road when questioned earlier this week about what he would say to Bill Belichick.
“You know I loved my time, I had two incredible decades there," he told reporters . "My football journey took me to a different place. And I certainly could never have accomplished the things in my career without his support and his teachings.”
Football break ups can be messy. But it’s clear there’s still a lot of love for Brady among the Pats faithful.
So for anyone that’s in their feelings this Sunday, maybe it’s best to not be sad because Brady’s days in New England are over, but simply be happy because they happened.
