By Sylvester “Nunnie” Robinson
My morning routine involves walking around my complex while listening to the radio, sometimes news, sports, music, or whatever strikes my fancy. On this particular morning I was listening to the Joe Madison show on Sirius XM, a talk radio show that welcomes audience participation via questions and comments on various subjects, mostly political in nature. One caller from Florida suggested that all young athletes should strongly consider attending schools, other than FBS schools, and in Florida, namely Florida, Florida State, and Miami based primarily on the applicable political pressure placed on politicians like DeSantis and Rubio who espouse political agendas overtly detrimental to minority communities. Recent NOTS articles have, at the very least, encouraged starting the conversation. Hearing that caller’s comments was timely because as long as Florida republicans dominate the government (gerrymandering/book banning ), our climb towards social justice gets steeper.
Now that football season is around the corner, I have an itch that must scratched. Tom Brady is not the GOAT, despite opinions of the so called experts: NFL lifers, columnist, players and coaches. He is a great quarterback who has won 7 Super Bowl titles, 6 with the Patriots and the last with Tampa. I undoubtedly admit that he is the winningest quarterback in modern professional football but not the greatest quarterback of all time. He has been blessed to be apart of some great teams that were smiled on by the football gods. The infamous “Tuck “ game comes immediately to mind. The 2002 division championship game pitted the Patriots against the then Oakland Raiders. Brady dropped back to pass, was sacked by Charles Woodson and fumbled the ball. In one of the most egregious calls in NFL lore, after a long delay, allowing officials to confer, it was ruled that Brady was actually tucking ball to secure it so New England retained possession, eventually winning the game on a last second field goal. Had the correct call been made, the Raiders would have played in the Super Bowl; however, the call led to the Patriots’ first of six SB championships. Suffice it to say: the rule no longer exists in the NFL. In the 2019 AFC Championship game, Kansas City intercepted a pass, basically sealing the victory, but as fate would have it, LB Dee Ford lined up offside, allowing New England to retain possession and subsequently win the game in overtime.
The most terrible and ill-fated offensive call occurred in SB XLIX played between the Russell Wilson led Seahawks and Brady’s Patriots. Third down, ball on 2 yard line and Seattle has the most powerful, bruiser of a running back, Marshawn Lynch, in recent memory. Mind you, Tom Brady is on the sideline watching like the rest of us, probably thinking about post game remarks after a devastating loss. Russell is about to win his second SB title for Seattle. Instead of running the ball, the OC calls a pass play, the ball is intercepted, handing the Patriots another SB victory. I’m still in shock after all this time. Finally, Atlanta dominated the Patriots early, had a chance to win SB LI by simply running the ball and kicking a field goal. Instead, Atlanta OC Kyle Shanahan chose to pass the ball, failed miserably and turned the ball over on downs. Patriots win Super Bowl. That’s 3 SB games they shouldn’t have even been apart of and Kyle Shanahan is the 49ers coach. Brady- the most SB wins, yes; the GOAT, not so fast.
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