ALL NFL QUARTERBACKS — & CFL & COLLEGE & JC & HIGH SCHOOL QB’S — KNOW HOW TO THROW THE FOOTBALL. BUT NOBODY THROWS THE FOOTBALL LIKE TOM BRADY!!!
It is a constant source of amazement to me and has been forever.
It must be like when the opera buff hears (or heard) Pavarotti. Or when the ballet aficionado studied the every move of Baryshnikov or is enraptured by Misty Copeland today. Vladimir Horowitz or Vladimir Ashkenazy. Mozart. Michelangelo.
You get the picture.
Geniuses all with poetry of motion, style and grace about them. Smooth as silk in their own inimitable fashions, overflowing with prodigious God-given talents.
They do not (or did not) make it look easy because it’s not.
Hours, days, weeks, months, years and decades of honing their abilities and polishing their respective crafts through hard work and practice. Minute after minute.
Always. Seemingly forever.
Very few of us are gifted this way. Fewer still take it to the moon and back.
The combination of other-worldly aptitude, skill, artistry and brilliance and an unceasing down-and-dirty work ethic is their hallmark, their signature.
At the risk of overreaching, there are sports figures and disciplines like this. Naturally and sometimes breathtakingly beautiful. Elite athletes are prodigies too, and all in their own ways.
Figure Skating, Downhill Skiing, Snowboarding, Fencing, Boxing, Muay Thai Boxing, Ping-Pong, Tennis, Golf, Billiards (Pool), Squash, Racquetball, Handball, Paddleball, Basque pelota, Badminton, Swimming, Synchronized swimming, Water polo, Soccer, Darts, Juggling, Bowling, Bocce, Cricket, Croquet, Rugby, Hurling, Jai alai, Lacrosse, Field hockey, Polo, Sepak takraw, Skee-Ball, Foosball, Tetherball, Track & Field, Ulama, Volleyball, Wiffle Ball, Archery, Gymnastics, Sport Climbing, Skateboarding, Surfing, Water Skiing, Karate, Judo, Taekwondo, Canoeing, Kayaking, Cycling, Equestrian, Rowing, Sailing, Shooting, Weightlifting, Wrestling, Cheerleading, Auto Racing, Motocross, Bandy — -a handful (62 at last count and just a sampling really) of sports/disciplines with highly-trained heroes particular to each.
A joy to watch certainly in no small measure due to perfected technique.
Perfected technique wherever and whenever displayed is stunningly beautiful to behold.
In America baseball, basketball, football and ice hockey are considered “major sports.” Soccer is making strides but will be hard-pressed to crack the top four.
Our largest media market (and most historically passionate) metropolitan area cities boast professional franchises in all four sports — there are 13 such locales — with some supporting two in major league baseball for example: New York has the Yankees and the Mets; Los Angeles the Dodgers and the Angels; Chicago the Cubs and the White Sox; the Bay Area the Giants and the A’s; and in Baltimore-Washington, D.C. the Orioles and the Nats.
The New York metropolitan area in fact, the largest metropolis in the country, is the only region with at least two teams in each major sports league and is home to three NHL clubs.
(Other areas with professional teams from the four majors include: Boston, Dallas, Denver, Detroit, Miami, Minneapolis-St. Paul, Philadelphia, Phoenix and Washington, D.C. Add the aforementioned New York, Los Angeles, Chicago & San Francisco Bay Area and the total is thirteen).
Cleveland, Kansas City, St. Louis and Atlanta all formerly hosted teams from all four majors.
In fairness and out of respect to Major League Soccer which was founded in the U.S. in 1993 and has been active since ’96, the circuit has a presence in 9 of the 13 metro areas with Big Four teams. Detroit, Miami, Minneapolis-St. Paul and Phoenix do not host MLS franchises though expansion teams are being planned for Miami and Minneapolis-St. Paul.
Please pardon the digression.
With so much to watch though, we have ample opportunity to home in on the beauty of perfected technique.
To watch a gifted center fielder or catcher launch a laser-like throw on the line and nail a base-runner gives me yet another reason to live.
To see the mechanics of a prototypical jump shot at work down to the completed follow-through and then the rippling twine is nothing short of a marvel to these eyes.
What about the fluidity, balance and powerful stride when the hockey forward (or defenseman, thank you Mr. Robert Gordon Orr) bursts up ice to unleash a 100-mph howitzer of hard rubber on the goaltender, a premier danseur in his/her own right? Takes the air out of my lungs altogether.
The soccer (football) midfielder, a picture of fitness and stamina personified, using his/her feet as deftly and dexterously as the rest of us use our hands or the mind-boggling acrobatics performed by the goalkeeper, both of which truly never cease to stupefy the fan in me. My wide-eyed wonder is insatiable.
And we haven’t even gotten to American football yet.
Aaah, where to begin?
Should we start with the raw brutish strength blended with remarkable agility, quickness and lightness-afoot of the 335 lb. lineman?
Or the quintessence of the linebacker’s ferocity, targeting the ball-carrier, swatting away blockers and preparing to make the bone-crushing tackle?
What about that skilled ball-carrier exploding and accelerating through the hole like the crack of a lightning bolt or the gifted wide receiver running the most precise pattern to get open and then catching the tight spiral with soft hands?
Or the ever-so-athletic members of the defensive secondary who stick to their men like flypaper, executing assignments flawlessly?
Aw, c’mon. You know where this is going by now.
The beginning, middle and end is the quarterback, let’s face it.
Twenty-three modern era NFL QBs (of 303 players overall) have been enshrined in Canton’s Pro Football Hall of Fame.
Alphabetically: Aikman, Blanda, Bradshaw, Dawson, Elway, Fouts, Graham, Griese, Jurgensen, Kelly, Layne, Marino, Montana, Moon, Namath, Starr, Staubach,Tarkenton, Tittle, Unitas, Van Brocklin, Waterfield and Young.
Some threw better than others but they all could throw — a gift from God to be sure.
Arguably there is almost nothing in sports better than watching the quarterback throw the football.
Because it’s not a round ball. It is a prolate spheroid about 11 to 11 ¼” in length with a long circumference of 28 to 28 ½”, a short circumference of 21 to 21 ¼” and a weight of 14 to 15 ounces.
(No “Deflategate” dialogue of any sort will be forthcoming here).
Without the proper-sized hands and longish fingers— large and strong enough — you might as well find another pursuit.
An official MLB baseball weighs between 5 and 5 1/4 ounces and is 9 to 9 ¼” in circumference.
Different ballgame in every sense of the word.
As is the ability — to throw a football among other things — of one Thomas Edward Patrick Brady, Jr.
And although his abilities are many, the way he throws a football is simply unparalleled. His motion and release are pure textbook. His form is exemplary, flawless, superlative, nonpareil and peerless.
Nobody — and I mean nobody — does it better.
Believe me, I‘m not getting paid for this.
And I have no agenda.
Absolutely none and not the point or relevant.
I do admire Brady’s parents because over time it has become clear to me that having raised his siblings and him as they did, well…my, my my!!!
From my vantage point and without knowing him personally, I must say that this seems to be as fine a human being as any parent could wildly imagine calling their own.
And even a better professional football quarterback.
The best actually. Ever.
The best ever. Period.
Never mind that at age 39 — and with his season-opening four game suspension notwithstanding — he is putting up unprecedented numbers. In ten games he has thrown 22 TD passes (2 picks; 0.6 Int%) for 3,064 yards with a completion percentage of 66.9.
His career #s of 450 TD passes for 61,092 yards with a completion percentage of 63.7 (5,202 completions in 8,164 attempts) could whisk him into the HOF by lunchtime.
Or tomorrow if it’s after lunch.
He is an 11-time Pro Bowler, a 4-time Super Bowl Champion (in 6 SB appearances), a 3-time Super Bowl MVP and a 2-time League MVP among his many other distinctions.
So far.
SO FAR!!!
The fact that he is inarguably enjoying one of his best seasons yet at 39 is nearly as staggering as is his 17-year body of work.
And he not only shows no sign of slowing down — he was never too swift afoot to be fair and a total of 58 rushing yards for the year and 934 for his career would seem to bear this out — he may be getting better.
He is one serious injury away from Hollywood or the broadcast booth or life on an island somewhere but with the exception of 2008, he has emerged relatively unscathed.
Attribute it to superior conditioning and fitness, adherence to cutting edge nutritional practices and proclivities, a fierce and unrelenting work ethic and the competitive fire blazing in a do-or-die, kill-or-be-killed mentality.
And toss in some good fortune.
Tom Brady has played with some very talented teammates and for the best football coach God ever created for his entire 17-year career.
For a wonderful owner too.
Of course that matters.
But make no mistake. Neither Bill Belichick nor his beloved Patriot mates nor Robert F. Kraft (“Bobby” to those who knew him as a young man in Brookline, MA.) throw the football for Tom Brady.
And nobody throws it like him.
Meaningless Footnote: Yesterday (12/18/2016) in leading the Patriots to a 16–3 win in Denver, Brady authored a rather plebeian performance — 16/32; 188 yds; 0 TD; 0 INT; 68.2 QBR; 1 Rushing Attempt; minus-1 yd.
He’s human after all.
And a “W” is a “W”.
[Editor’s Note: This piece was written by Mr. Kaplan in December 2016.]
