Dein erstes Forum » Youve got friends, theyre still hanging ar

They knew getting Tom Brady to Ann Arbor might be a difficult sell. They knew, despite four Super Bowl rings and two MVPs, there were some sins he could forgive, but never forget.In Ann Arbor, they still wince every time someone recounts the infamous story of autograph day, Bradys junior year. Michigan fans -- still glowing from winning a co-national championship the previous season, 1997 -- poured into the stadium and formed a line 50 yards long. They patiently waited to get a signature from the man everyone assumed would be the Wolverines starter, following in Brian Grieses footsteps. But it wasnt Brady they were lining up for, it was freshman phenom Drew Henson, a Michigan high school legend. After a few minutes, someone ran to get Henson a table and a chair, and across the field, Brady stood by the tunnel for an hour, humiliated, signing his name only a handful of times.If youre looking for the moment when the Brady legend found its motivational fuel, look no further. Brady won the starting job, but it never felt secure. For two years, coach Lloyd Carr made the upperclassman share time with Henson, and fans were constantly clamoring for Henson to unseat Brady. In 1998, Brady was booed off the field after making several mistakes in an early-season loss to Syracuse. Though he grew to understand how the adversity shaped him, the sting lingered.Recognizing how Bradys mind works -- understanding how obsessively he catalogs his memories -- has always been essential to understanding him. If you want to know what he was doing in Michigan last weekend, attending a Wolverines game for the first time since he graduated, its best to start with his brain.Away from the football field, he has mastered the art of cool detachment, of projecting wry indifference. He can spend an entire news conference politely answering questions, looking you in the eye, nodding graciously, and then depart having said almost nothing of substance. His words, in public, feel as if they were made of smoke. There is nothing to hold on to.His friends, however, know the other side of Brady, the zeal he has thats incessantly boiling just beneath the veneer. Slights, old and new, are woven into his DNA. He does not forget the times he has felt wronged, and he will ruminate on them for months, even years. This is typically a blessing. It has made him the player he is. He can, even now, name all six quarterbacks drafted before him in 2000, and from memory, he can tick off exactly where each was picked. He will hear a snide comment from an opposing defender, file it away for half a season, and pore over that players tendencies in private, biding his time until he has a chance to enact a surgical revenge. His greatest asset, as a quarterback, has never been his physical skills. Its how ruthless he can be when he feels snubbed, or when his integrity is questioned.Here, then, was the problem once Deflategate was mercifully put to bed: From the moment he reluctantly accepted his four-game suspension from the NFL, dropping his appeal just short of the Supreme Court, Bradys friends understood just how much he would obsesses over the games he was set to miss. He was remorseless, but powerless. His mind, and his obsessive nature, would now be a burden.With Brady barred from the team facilities and unable to have contact with anyone on the Patriots, friends worried he might torment himself with so much idle time on his hands. When Wes Welker, a close friend and former teammate who is now retired, called to see if hed like to grab dinner, Brady agreed on the condition Welker run routes and catch passes, too. His wife, Gisele, even posted a picture on Instagram of Brady throwing her passes in their backyard during the first week of his suspension. Dont worry guys, I will have him ready, she wrote in the caption. Even in jest, the picture had a ring of truth to it. The man cannot stay still.If you know Tom, you know he has a memory like a frickin elephant, said Jay Flannelly, who met Brady at Michigan and has remained a close friend for the past 20 years. He remembers every little disrespect. I just wanted to get his mind off of everything for a few hours.Phone calls were made, text messages exchanged, and eventually, an idea conceived: Perhaps this was the moment the University of Michigan could soothe some old wounds by inviting Brady to Ann Arbor to attend a game and serve as an honorary captain. Coach Jim Harbaugh -- who was convinced to return to Michigan in part because of an encouraging phone call from Brady -- was pushing for it. So were some of Bradys ex-teammates and current confidants.The plan was for Michigan fans to shower their late-blooming prodigy with the love hed never quite received when he wore the maize and blue. Perhaps, on some level, his suspension could be a blessing, an opportunity, a chance to bring him back into the Michigan family. Hed visited campus in February, for Michigans Signing of the Stars, an event to introduce the Wolverines incoming recruiting class, but according to someone briefed on the trip, it ended on an awkward note when someone from the schools fundraising department, unaware of Bradys complicated history with his alma mater, asked if he would be interested in donating a substantial sum to the school. Harbaugh, when he learned about the exchange, was livid.The Michigan community wanted to do it right this time. It rounded up some of Bradys closest friends and former teammates, and reached out. Loyalty has always been important in Bradys life. How about the Colorado game in Week 3?We had to go kind of rogue to get it done, said Todd Anson, a prominent Michigan booster. But it was important, because we knew Tom felt estranged from the program.In a bit of a surprise, Brady accepted.This is how Brady came to be standing on the 5-yard line of an empty Michigan Stadium on a Friday afternoon with a football in his hands. Hed brought his 9-year-old son, Jack, along for the trip, and was eager, according to a friend, for the two of them to spend a special weekend together since Jack lives primarily with his mom, actress Bridget Moynahan. One of the first places father and son went was the stadium, the Big House.In the late-afternoon light, Brady gently lofted passes to his son, including one in the end zone that Jack caught as he was tumbling to the ground. Brady, giddy with pride, raised his hands in the air to signal a touchdown and jogged toward Jack. The boy scampered to his feet, paused, then dabbed like Cam Newton just before his smiling father embraced him, lifting him off the ground.This, too, would be filed away, another Michigan memory. A new one.Later that night, Bradys friends kept texting him, trying to get him to come out to the Pizza House, one of his old haunts. He politely declined. Eventually, he agreed to let them bring some food by his hotel. He spent his first evening back in Ann Arbor in 16 years nibbling on a chipati -- a salad stuffed inside some pita bread, a Pizza House special -- and playing board games with his son.He returned to the stadium the next afternoon, game day, trying to look inconspicuous in dark sunglasses and a blue, half-zip Michigan pullover, but it was easy to spot the four-time Super Bowl winner. He lingered in the parking lot, waiting in a massive, cherry red Chevy Suburban for 20 minutes, before seeming to concede that the small swarm of media eager to document his arrival was not going away. He opened his door, offered a polite movie star wave to a large group of fans gathered on the steps of the stadium, and then walked briskly past the cameras and handshakes and autograph seekers without stopping. He said nothing, but flashed a cagey, aristocratic smile.During pregame warm-ups, Brady milled through the crowd on the field, shaking hands like a politician, crouching down low to pose for pictures with groups of kids, laughing and pointing as he spotted old friends. Brady even posed for a selfie with Miami Dolphins owner Stephen Ross, a prominent Michigan alum and donor. Ross said he was texting the picture to Patriots owner Robert Kraft.Everyone who meets him gets that look that 16-year-old girls had the first time they saw the Beatles, Flannelly said. But hes so disarming. He gets people to relax. He could talk to anybody. He could fix the Middle East. You put him in the room with the Arabs and the Jews and he would get them talking until they figure it out.Jack Brady, dressed in a gray Under Armour shirt with a Superman logo, flitted about with a smile on his face, rarely taking his eyes off his father. At one point, according to someone who heard the exchange, one of Bradys friends asked Jack if he wanted to be a quarterback or a wide receiver when he grew up. Jack thought about it for a second, then delivered an answer that made everyone -- his father included -- laugh.I think I want to be a soccer player, he said.Harbaughs plan was to have Brady address his team prior to kickoff, let him deliver a rousing pregame speech about what it meant to be a Michigan man. But first, the head coach wanted something for himself. He wanted to stand on the field where both of them had been once been Wolverines quarterbacks and, during pregame warm-ups, have a game of catch.They started 10 yards apart -- two ornery, venerated Michigan quarterbacks from different generations -- grinning as they flipped the ball back and forth, a scene that looked like a lost page of Wolverines fan fiction.Bradys throwing motion, even in a casual setting, is textbook perfect, his right elbow tucked, his arms crossing one another with every follow through. Every Harbaugh throw, in contrast, looked creaky, his 52-year-old body twisting and straining to match the effortless zip of Bradys throws. But Harbaugh kept backing up, first to 15 yards, then 20 (then 25!), admitting later he was unable to resist making it a competition.When I look back on my career of playing catch with people, that was right up there with my dad, Harbaugh said later. Tom has a good arm. He throws such a good ball. That ball almost catches itself. I wish I wouldnt have given him the wind.Brady asked that no cameras be present in the room when he spoke to the team. He wanted to feel free to speak from the heart. According to those who heard his speech, Brady talked primarily about tradition, about what it meant to wear maize and blue. It was a chilling speech, said defensive lineman Ryan Glasgow. It made the hair on the back of your neck stand up.He went around the room and singled out each position, asking them to stand and look around the room and remember that they werent playing just for themselves. They were playing for every great player who played their position or wore their number over the years. They were playing for Desmond Howard and Tyrone Wheatley and Braylon Edwards and Charles Woodson and, yes, even Tom Brady.It made me realize maybe the greatest quarterback of all time was saying that I represent him, said Michigan quarterback Wilton Speight. That got me in the mindset that I wanted to go out and play even better than he ever did.When he finished, the entire room erupted.Just before the pregame coin flip, as Brady stood near the Wolverines sideline next to Michigan tight end Jake Butt, the school began showing a video of highlights from Bradys college career. He stood and watched, swaying in place, his hands clasped behind his back, gazing up at the 4,000-square-foot scoreboard, looking both appreciative and wistful. It was clear he was reliving old throws in his mind, retracing the lines of faded memories. He turned and waved to the crowd as fans roared with gratitude, then spun in a slow circle to acknowledge the whole stadium, soaking up love from some of the same people who once withheld it.He kept his designer sunglasses on, a friend later speculated, as an emotional suit of armor. He didnt want anyone to know if his eyes welled up with tears. Josh Smith Jersey . With the first unit struggling of late and Amir Johnson - one of the teams iron men - hobbling on an injured right ankle, Patterson knew he could get the nod in a challenging matchup against one of the leagues up and coming players at his position. Bob Houbregs Jersey . But Bourque, who has missed three games with a lower-body injury, wont be in the lineup when the Habs travel to Buffalo to take on the Sabres on Wednesday. https://www.cheaphawks.com/914r-kevin-willis-jersey-hawks.html . Those lessons were more than enough to overwhelm the Utah Jazz. Lou Williams scored 25 points and the Hawks continued their offensive upswing as they rolled to an easy 118-85 victory over the Jazz on Friday night, winning their third straight and for the fourth time in five games. Walt Hazzard Jersey . Pierce was ejected in the third quarter of Indianas 103-86 win Monday. George Hill stole a bad pass and was going in for a layup, and Pierce hustled back and appeared to be trying to wrap him up. Clyde Lovellette Jersey . Ashley Youngs cross was inadvertently headed by Chester into his own net in the 66th minute, allowing United to claim a third straight league win. "We had to dig deep with our fighting spirit and weve done that," United striker Wayne Rooney said. ST. LOUIS -- Six months after Stan Kroenke took away their football team, more than 40 former St. Louis Rams players and coaches took to the field Saturday at the Edward Jones Dome for a flag football game.Former wide receiver Isaac Bruce organized the event, with proceeds benefiting his foundation, which works to teach St. Louis youth the importance of education and a healthy lifestyle. Bruce brought his former teammates together to thank the fans for their support after Kroenke moved the franchise to Los Angeles on Jan. 12 following 21 years in St. Louis.It exceeded my expectations, man, Bruce said. Youve got friends, theyre still hanging around. It was great. They had a good time.For many of the players, it was a chance to relive memories of an era known as The Greatest Show on Turf, from 1999-2004, which saw the team make two Super Bowl appearances, winning the NFL championship in 1999.Youre right back in the locker room, said former defensive tackle DMarco Farr, who played in St. Louis from 1995-2000. No matter how loong youve been gone, no matter how long you havent been teammates, once you get together, youre teammates again.ddddddddddddDick Vermeil, who coached the team in the 1999 Super Bowl, and Mike Martz, who coached the team in the 2002 Super Bowl, returned to lead the squads along with former assistants Al Saunders and Jim Hanifan.It was such a classy thing for the St. Louis people to do because it could have been just the opposite, Vermeil said. In a way, the Rams have given them a reason not to like us anymore, but they came back and really showed class. I think everybody really appreciates it and I think they still appreciate us.More than 10,000 fans attended the event.At halftime, former All-Pro offensive tackle Orlando Pace was honored for his upcoming enshrinement in the Pro Football Hall of Fame.He was the MVP of what we were doing, Bruce said. So I was honored to honor him here at halftime. ' ' '