Patriots fan, Buckeyes coach Ryan Day recalls greatness of retired Tom Brady
COLUMBUS — As memories pile up, reflections on an impulsive road trip from one’s college years still finds an indelible niche. Ohio State coach Ryan Day will attest to that.
When asked to reflect Wednesday on Tom Brady’s early morning announcement by social media that he was retiring as a player — and this time he means it — Day moved quickly into an anecdote. For he had grown up in Manchester, New Hampshire, played quarterback for the University of New Hampshire, and was a bona fide New Englander and Patriots fan.
“When I got done with my senior year, that was the first year” Brady was the starter for New England in 2001, Day said. “And me and a couple of my roommates decided, I think it was on a Thursday, we were going to get in a car up in New Hampshire — yeah, we took a rental car and drove down to New Orleans to see them play the Rams (in Super Bowl XXXVI).”
Some 1,550 miles and 24 hours later — “We drove straight through” — they were on site.
“We had no tickets [though some were scored], we slept on the floor of a buddy’s room, and a friend of ours bought us a flight back after the game.” Day said. “But that was his first [Super Bowl win], and then the rest was history. [Former Patriots kicker Adam] Vinatieri kicked the field goal.”
Vinatieri stroked that 48-yarder as time expired to gain the 20-17 victory after Brady had driven the Patriots into position, eating the final 1:30 of the clock. Brady was named the game’s MVP as the Patriots upset the 14-point favorite Rams, and the dominos started falling.
“I grew up a Patriots fan, so that was really neat, that first big Super Bowl [win],” Ohio State coach Ryan Day said. “I remember in ’85 when they played the Bears, that was big, they played in New Orleans. But when they beat the Rams, that was the start of that whole dynasty.”
Brady and the Patriots, under coach Bill Belichick, went on to win five more before Brady moved on as a free agent to Tampa Bay in 2020. That Covid-19 season, he took the Buccaneers to a Super Bowl win, his record-extending seventh.
He announced his retirement for the first time on Feb. 1, 2022, but opted to return for this past season. Whether his second such announcement Wednesday, again on Feb. 1, sticks, only time will tell.
But the owner of myriad records along with proving that football can be played at its highest level even as a 45-year-old, he’s left his mark and then some.
“What an unbelievable career that he’s had, somebody I’ve looked up to as I played, watching him, and as I’ve gone on with my coaching career I tell my family he’s older than me, you know,” Ryan Day, 43, said. “So it’s just amazing that he’s taken care of his body.
“He’s the pillar of unbelievable discipline, and what an unbelievable career — in my opinion the best quarterback to ever play the game.”
