If You're Not Weeping at the Behind-the-Scenes Video and New Details of Tom Brady's Triumphant Return to Foxboro, You Have No Soul

As we walk through this vale of tears, there are those moments of great emotion that you get through, process your feelings, get to the "Acceptance" stage of the Kubler-Ross model, and move on with your life. Then there are others that stay with you. Such that even when you become convinced you're now focused on other things, the feelings come back at you in waves. Often at unexpected times. 

And it works the same with emotions good and bad. Think the death of a loved one. The birth of a baby. A child's graduation. Their wedding perhaps. A great national tragedy. "Back to Foulke! Red Sox fans have longed to hear it ..." The Helmet Catch.That moment when the whole kingdom of Gondor bows before the Hobbits who saved Middle Earth. And so on. 

Perhaps we'll come in time to realize there's no greater example of this than the Tom Brady celebration a week ago. Ironically enough, like that scene with the Shirefolk, also a "Return of the King." Over the seven ensuing days, I'll find myself doing some mundane task and find myself caught up in the echo effect of that moving and profound ceremony. Dancing to the music the Patriot for Life played on my heartstrings. Knowing that it was only a matter of time before more came out about that day, and the symphony would start all over again.

And that time is now. Rated TV-S for Sentimental. Viewer discretion is advised:

Great Scott. Just look at Brady giving every one of these past teammates their moment. Walking, talking evidence of how great he has been, and for how long. Some with grey beards. Ty Law and Darrelle Revis, who both won Super Bowls with him a decade apart and are now enshrined in Canton. Malcolm Butler, who was in training camp with the Pats just a year ago. They're like living memorials to his career. And he treated every one of them like the most important human being in the stadium on a day that was all meant for him. 

And as far as the actual most important being in Gillette, he got his moment as well. Lots of them, in fact:

Source - Minutes after concluding his post-game press conference last Sunday, Bill Belichick ducked into an adjacent hallway that separates the team's auditorium from its locker room. He spotted a familiar face: Tom Brady.

According to sources, Belichick and Brady spoke alone for more than 20 minutes after the Patriots' 25-20 loss to the Eagles. Standing in the hall, Belichick and Brady blocked a path players and staffers often take out of the facility after games. …

After meeting with Belichick, Brady connected with Patriots captain Matthew Slater. … 

[Kendrick] Bourne's original plan was to quickly interrupt Brady's chat with Slater, introduce himself and leave. But Brady stopped him and brought Bourne into his huddle.

"He was just telling me I had a good game and to keep it up," Bourne told the Herald. "I didn't want to hold him too long. He told me to keep going, keep making plays and it felt good to hear that from someone I'd never met before and looked up to for a while. … I was starstruck for sure."

Brady also mingled with members of Bourne's family who had traveled for the game. Bourne described his uncle as similarly awestruck.

Totally understandable, Kendrick and Uncle Bourne. We all get that in Brady's mighty presence. It's unbelievable that he'd set aside so much time to spend going one-on-one with the family of a player who came here in 2021 and was never a teammate. It's like taking your kid to the Magic Kingdom and not only seeing Mickey, but having a sit down with him while he asks your child everything about herself. I say "unbelievable," but it totally believable when we're talking about this man. 

But the real story here is, of course, the visit Brady got from Belichick. As you no doubt remember, after that Sunday Night game when Tampa came to Foxboro in 2021, Belichick went to the Bucs locker room and the two spoke for as much as 45 minutes. 

There's an urban legend about the Vatican possessing a machine called a Chronovisor, that allows them to look back through time and witness actual historical events, including the Cruxifiction. If I had access to it, I'd tune in on these two conversations. The parting of the Red Sea? The fall of Atlantis? Caesar's assassination? Waterloo? The invention of the atomic bomb? Child's play. Every other moment in history can wait. First I'd want to hear what each of these singularly accomplished men have to say to the other man who helped accomplish all his accomplishments. 

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But who am I kidding? I can barely handle hearing Brady's speech or watch him hug Butler. Listening to their conversation would kill me. Some things are just best left as sacred mysteries. Now if you'll excuse me, I need a bigger box of tissues.