We have done this to ourselves. The amount of attention, emotion, and time spent on the specific position of quarterback in the NFL would warp any person who plays the position and is on the receiving end of all that. It is one of the main reasons the position is hard to play, and why so few can do it well. Only a few can carry it, and no one can ignore the amount riding on it. We have to do this dance with any quarterback that is still playing, and still playing well, over 35. They are unsure if they will retire or not. Maybe it started when the Packers decided they had enough of people sniffing his farts before he came back, and replaced him with someone better. There is a question as to whether or not he liked sitting around and seeing what everyone had to say about him, how vital he was, before getting repeated hero-receptions from the Packers press and fans. It seemed like something had when he would come back. He ran out of the runway. The past two summers have been the same for Rodgers, though his charade was spiced with more money and more say in what was going on with the team. His career and time in Green Bay may be the ultimate return for his career and time there. To see what everyone says, to feel or appear needed and important is the major drive. Tom Brady, the most accomplished and yet perhaps the most personally empty of all quarterbacks, wanted to spend a month hearing all the tributes and reflections on his career. It's not the first time he's spent it, but the most naked. Brady hasn't had a chance to retire yet. He wouldn't have been doing anything other than what he's been doing this year, just appearing at various events and getting noticed for it.
Most of the time, these guys are subjected to the most intricate breakdowns of their games and performances, and have an entire organization pinned on them. It must be tiring. Even if it's only for a few weeks, one can understand the need to remind people why they bother in the first place.
Brady has always needed acceptance as a whole person. Rodgers wants to be the smartest person in the room. It probably doesn't matter if he likes him or not. He needed to be worshiped.
Brady needs it all, otherwise the seven titles would have sufficed to quench his thirst. It's pretty clear Brady wouldn't know what to do with himself out of the spotlight. He's too vapid for a lot of things. He isn't going into the booth. When his playing days are over, he probably doesn't want to work hard enough to get into ownership or management.
This is what we get. He is given a month or six weeks to tell him about the difference he has made. No one has been better, and no one will be able to do it again. We can do it all again in a year if he comes back on that high. He hears his name more and more.
At some point, we all want to know what everyone thinks of us, especially in the sheltered world where no one is going to say bad things about us. It is a preview of a funeral. They get to add more lines to the funeral. It's insufferable for us, but when you're these guys, there's only themselves.
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