Even the most wild-eyed Tom Brady detractor has to feel for the guy when it comes to the public unveiling of his emails.
It's a fairly intense private intrusion and a stunning indicator of the pure bloat of the Deflategate saga. That didn't stop us from reading, of course, the emails offering a fascinating peek at the real Tom Brady: the guy who has strong preferences for white pool covers, Boston sushi restaurants and Tom Ford swag.
In one email dated Nov. 1 of last year -- initially uncovered by Boston.com -- a Brady childhood friend asks the Patriots star if he read a Grantland feature comparing his career to the career of Peyton Manning, Brady's forever rival. No. 12's response:
"Thanks popa. I've got another 7 or 8 years. He has 2. That's the final chapter."
The context was on the surface. Brady -- despite, at 38, being just one year younger than Manning -- believes he remains in the middle of his historic career while Manning is in the twilight.
On Wednesday, Manning was asked about the private correspondence. He said Brady apologized in a text, a gesture Manning felt was unnecessary.
"The fact that his emails got revealed, that didn't make a lot of sense to me," Manning said after practice, according to The Denver Post. "No harm, no foul. I didn't think a lot of it. Somebody said I was roasted. I've been roasted before. That is not a roast.
"I haven't been on a Comedy Central roast, but there have been a couple of those private dinners and banquets where I didn't know it would turn into a roast of me, but it did," he continued. "I can promise you, that email was amateur night compared to some of the things people really said about me."
As for Brady's prediction about the coming end of Manning's legendary career?
"Everybody's been speculating on that for a long time," he said. "So, I guess maybe he's joining the list of everybody trying to predict."
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