I just don’t understand the hatred for Tom Brady. Do you?

Yes, he plays for a team that wins every season and has been to six Super Bowls during his 17 years in the NFL. Yes, he is tall and handsome and married to a Brazilian super model. Yes, some people think he cheats, but he has no reason to. Poor Tom Brady.

The 39-year-old Patriots quarterback is playing like he is two or three years out of college. Thanks to a strict training regimen of exercise and diet, he is in better shape than he was two or three years out of college, which was Michigan. He plays the position perhaps better than any quarterback in the history of the game, while an entire region worships him and depends on him for their happiness. Now that’s pressure.

Now this. A young terminally ill cancer patient in Boston asked his brain surgeons before the sixth operation of his young life if they could carve Brady’s No. 12 into the side of his small skull while they were in there.  The doctors thought it was a strange request but given the youngster’s grave condition and his indomitable spirit, why not they said. When he awoke after the surgery, they showed him a picture of his wish come true.

The story was told before Monday night’s Ravens-Patriots game in Foxboro, including the brave kid receiving a video message from TB12 and an invitation to watch two games on the sidelines at Gillette Stadium. Don’t be surprised if you read in the next few days that Brady sent a game ball home with him. Not with a big photo op, but a private gesture from one hero to another.

Oh, by the way, Brady threw for more than 400 yards against Baltimore’s No. 1 defense in the NFL, including a late long bomb for this third touchdown pass that sealed the Pats’ 30-23 victory.

Is it because Tom Brady is not to be believed on the field that he is so idolized by so many off the field? Even the haters are finding it hard to hate someone who personifies all of our greatest fantasy: to be ageless as he grows older.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Subscribe: RSS

Related Stories
‹
Chansky's Notebook: 'No. 3, Get in the Game'
Of the 23 football games Notre Dame and Carolina have played over the years, there is nothing that matches 1975, when an unknown quarterback came off the bench to save the Irish from what would have been an embarrassing upset in Kenan Stadium. I was covering for the Durham Morning Herald and wanted to watch […]
Chansky's Notebook: Hurricane Happiness
With the potential for rain Saturday when UNC hosts No. 3 Notre Dame, Art Chansky remembers a rain-aided upset win for the Tar Heels.
Chansky's Notebook: Snap Decisions
Art Chansky says it may be time for Bill Belichick and UNC to make a change at the quarterback position following Saturday's loss at Clemson.
Chansky's Notebook: Maye's Mission
With an upgraded receiver room and a massive target on his back, Drake Maye is poised for a hugely important 2026 campaign.
Chansky's Notebook: Fool Me Once...
Little Kool-Aid will be consumed by Carolina fans before the noon kickoff from Dublin. Fool me once but not again. It is a great trip to Ireland for the Tar Heels fans who bought the plane tickets and hotel rooms to tour the Emerald Isle and see if their team is any better than Bill […]
Chansky's Notebook: Getting Filthy Rich-er
There are seven teams with $40 million plus rosters and five others just behind the tally from college football as the 2026 season begins. The SEC leads payrolls (LSU, Texas, Texas A&M, Georgia, Ole Miss and Tennessee), with four from the Big Ten (Ohio State, Oregon, Michigan and USC), one from the ACC (Miami) and […]
Chansky's Notebook: Power to the People!
Wednesday's announcement of a two-year, two-game series between UNC and NC State in Greensboro sent a clear message.
Chansky's Notebook: The Five Stages
Chapelboro's Michael Koh breaks down the stunning news of Seth Trimble's commitment to Louisville via the transfer portal.
Chansky's Notebook: Carolina Conundrum
There is no question Mike Lombardi will lose his job as football general manager and leave Chapel Hill, writes Art Chansky.
Chansky's Notebook: The One Who Got Away
Mack Brown was a very good football coach. His father was a high school coach in Tennessee, and his older brother Watson preceded him into mid-major positions. The peripatetic Brown held nine assistant jobs and one as a head coach in 15 years before he was 35. That included being the athletic director at Tulane […]
›