Tom Brady's harrowing -- yes, harrowing -- toss of the Lombardi Trophy from his boat to another nearby vessel during his Buccaneers' victory parade produced a beautiful (and lucky) completion.
The most attractive aspect of the toss: We avoided the disaster scenario everyone envisioned as soon as Brady starting swinging the trophy. And according to Brady, such an outcome never even crossed his mind.
"First of all, I was not thinking at that moment. It was not a thought. It was, 'This seems really fun to do,'" Brady told James Corden during an appearance on The Late Late Show. "Not to mention, when you get your hands on one of those trophies, there's a lot of really sharp edges on the bottom. ... I found out later, had that been an incomplete pass, that would have went down like 80 feet. I'm so happy that (tight end) Cam (Brate caught it)."
Material items are just that, and can be replaced, but the thought of Brady's first Lombardi won without Bill Belichick ending up at the bottom of the Hillsborough River is still frightening. Such a reality crossed the mind of at least one person: Brady's 8-year-old daughter, Vivi, who could be heard on the video shouting "Daddy, no!"
"Who could imagine that an 8-year-old girl would have the most sense of anybody in that whole area?" Brady said. "I mean, she's the voice of reason. Go figure."
She isn't the only voice attempting to reason with Brady these days. The quarterback recalled his experience immediately after his Buccaneers had secured the franchise's second Super Bowl triumph in its history, a moment in which Brady searched for his family on the field. With his children arriving first, Brady's wife, Gisele, followed closely behind, embracing the quarterback before dropping a hint.
"All of a sudden I saw my wife and I gave her a big hug, and just as I did it, she says 'what more do you have to prove?'" Brady recalled with a chuckle.
What more does Brady have to prove, after all? He's won more Super Bowls than any other player in NFL history, he's almost universally revered as the greatest to ever play the position, and his latest triumph proved he wasn't solely reliant on or a product of the Patriot Way. But as Brady described to Corden, playing football to him is like running on a treadmill at high speed for six months before it comes to an abrupt stop.
Brady told Corden he tried to change the subject quickly when his wife asked him that question, and the reason is clear: Brady doesn't want to stop running, because he doesn't want to get rid of the treadmill.
Luckily for the Bucs, he's already ready to crank ol' reliable up for another sprint in 2021.
