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Welcome back to yet another installment of "Around the AFC East". Each week, the four AFC East bloggers from SB Nation get together and interrogate each other about their respective teams (I use the word "interrogate" on purpose - generally, interrogations aren't friendly, and neither are the rivalries between these teams). Next up: Tommasse from Pats Pulpit.
BR: What's your take on the off-season madness surrounding Tom Brady? From Yankees caps to multiple babies, it's been a circus for that guy. Do you think it will be a distraction for the team at all?
Pats Pulpit: "I believe it's a massive Indianapolis Conspiracy! Anything to get the upper hand!
But back to reality. I don't think it's a distraction to the people who count, they being the players and the coaches. The media can play their little games and have their fun, but I don't see it impacting how this team prepares or what happens on game day.
Brady always still talks about (and is asked about) Michigan, and anyone who knows anything about professional athletes know their loyalties to teams of other sports don't necessarily reside where they play. Athletes come from around the country and around the world and many of them have friends on teams in different places. Sure, this is Boston, and the Yankees are the most hated adversary -- ever -- but if anyone is that upset Brady wore a Yankees hat, they really need to take inventory on where they are in life.
As for multiple babies, you're going to have to educate me. I know of only one. The alleged other was just another fabrication of the Brady haters of the aforementioned IC. They show up occasionally on Pats Pulpit to make their inane little accusations and political statements when they're actually able to peel themselves away from Oprah and Ellen to yell at the kids, chain-smoke a couple packs, and get on their NOW high horses. (Poor Bridget!) Then they immediately sink back into their self-righteous, wide-eyed, infatuatory, you-go-girlfriend cesspool to watch Access Hollywood and Inside Edition.
And while it's all so utterly irrelevant, I can guarantee the second Brady has a bad game, they'll all crawl out from under their rocks to say, "See? I told ya, girlfriend!"
We all know Bill Belichick is easily distracted. You can just see him standing on the sideline with 0:53 remaining, New England down by 21-20 in Buffalo, the Patriots with the ball on their own 42, thinking, "You know, I don't know how he could have left that sweet little girl and flown off to Paris with that 'woman.' And what was he doing with that Yankees hat?" Ya. That will happen. Like I said, back to reality."
I'll freely admit that I only asked this question of Tommasse to get a little bit of a rise out of him, because he's a hell of a funny guy when riled up. If I wasn't predisposed to hating Tom Brady I might feel for him a little bit - the media circus following him has been Timberlake-esque this off-season, and he didn't really do anything to deserve it. But alas, I am a Bills fan - so every time I hear about this, I'm not ashamed to admit that I grin. For a while. But yeah, because the Pats are annoyingly good, I never expected this to distract them. It's fun to talk about with Pats fans though - you should try it sometime.
If you have a question to ask of The Phinsider, Pats Pulpit or NY Landing Strip for future installments of this feature, feel free to e-mail me and I'll do my best to get your question answered.