There’s something to be said for going out quietly, a lesson Tom Brady could have learned from his former Bucs teammate Ali Marpet, who announced his retirement in Hemingway-esque brevity earlier this month. It’s hard to think of a clumsier “unretirement” than Brady’s, pulling a Wolf of Wall Street ("I'm not f---ing leaving!") on the eve of NFL free agency, wasting a month’s worth of tributes and retrospectives on a player who, deep down, knew he wasn’t done playing.
While Brady plots his next move (which appears to be a trade to either the Dolphins or his hometown 49ers), the quarterback’s longtime AFC rival, Peyton Manning, was flexing his entrepreneurial muscles Saturday in Las Vegas, attending the Mint Collective (a three-day event with panel discussions on trading cards and sports memorabilia) on behalf of his production company. Manning, who previously collaborated with Brady on an episode of Peyton’s Places (TB12 also appeared as a guest on ESPN’s Manning Cast last fall), admitted to being taken aback by Tom’s sudden change of heart, particularly after sending the Bucs veteran a handwritten note and a bottle of wine congratulating him on a great career.
“It doesn’t feel right when someone writes you a personal letter. It was long, two pages. Mailed it to him, sent him a bottle of wine,” said Manning in response to Brady’s betrayal. “He unretired and I want the letter back. He got to read all these nice things, I want it back. I want the bottle of wine back too.”
Manning can’t be the only one frustrated with Brady for having the gall to come back after a month of being showered with gifts and endless praise, only to repeat the cycle when he inevitably retires again next offseason. Brady deserves the acknowledgment—he’s the greatest winner of all-time in America’s most popular sport. But the next time the GOAT decides to hang ‘em up, he can pay for his own bottle of wine.
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