Is Tom Brady the Greatest of All Time? Yes.*
*With a record 5 Super Bowl rings and records in just about every other metric of a great quarterback, it is almost universally acknowledged that Tom Brady is the best quarterback ever to play the game.
Unfortunately, Brady’s character is not as stellar as his athletic prowess. Despite the fact that he has the best quarterback skills in history, he still cheated, as was verified by a lengthy investigation. His decision to cheat even though it wasn’t necessary reflects an abject lack of character.
Brady was fortunate that NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell only gave him a slap on the wrist for his cheating with a four-game suspension rather than expelling him from the NFL altogether as he deserved. After all, if an attorney cheats, he gets disbarred. If a banker cheats, he goes to prison. No profession can tolerate cheaters, but the NFL apparently chooses not to hold its players to professional standards or even standards of basic human decency and honor.
Brady also benefited from working with a coach, Bill Belichick, who is equally lacking in character and honor and has been caught cheating on at least two occasions. He too has benefited from the NFL’s willingness to tolerate cheaters.
Neither Brady nor Belichick has ever taken responsibility for or apologized for their cheating.
To the contrary, their fans continue to defend them, arguing that their cheating didn’t change the outcome of those games, as if that somehow makes the cheating acceptable. They also crow that the Super Bowl win was “revenge” on Goodell for imposing even the modest sanction that he did on Brady.
They are wrong. Goodell expected Brady to play at his best when he returned from his suspension, as he expects every player in the league to do. Brady did exactly what Goodell and everyone else in the NFL expects from every player. And in doing so, Brady gave us the most entertaining Super Bowl ever, which again is everything Goodell could have wished for. Doing what you’re hired to do does not constitute revenge on the boss.
So, yes, on pure raw talent, Tom Brady is the Greatest of All Time, and he deserves to be recognized as such. As a person, though, he’s pathetic.
Author: Ken Falkenstein
Ken Falkenstein is the Managing Editor of Committed Conservative and brings a wealth of experience and expertise in public affairs to the job. Ken served in the U.S. Army in the last years of the Cold War as a Russian linguist for military intelligence and the NSA. After leaving the Army, he earned his degree in Secondary Education from Old Dominion University, where he also wrote a popular column in the student newspaper.
Upon graduation, Ken worked as a Legislative Aide to two Republican members of the Virginia House of Delegates. Ken also served as Corresponding Secretary of the Young Republican Federation of Virginia, managed several successful political campaigns, and managed governmental affairs operations for a local Realtor association.
In 1995, Ken moved to Washington, DC to serve as a Legislative Assistant to Sen. John Warner (R-VA). While working for Sen. Warner, Ken attended law school at night, earning his J.D. with honors from the George Mason University School of Law (n/k/a The Antonin Scalia Law School). Since that time, Ken has practiced as a civil litigation attorney, including serving for three years as an Associate City Attorney for the City of Virginia Beach, Virginia.
Ken previously was a contributor to the highly-regarded political blog Bearing Drift and was a weekly co-host of The Steve Batton Radio Program. In 2016, Ken ran unsuccessfully for the Virginia Beach School Board. Ken is also a former President of the Down Syndrome Association of Hampton Roads.
Ken now lives outside of Denver, Colorado with his wife, Kim, and three sons, Adam, Dylan, and Joshua, who has Down syndrome. Ken’s writing is motivated and informed primarily by his concern for his kids’ future.
