Tom Brady on if the Super Bowl is tainted: ‘No, absolutely not’
This wasn’t exactly an interrogation of New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady, and there were not any single teary “Say it ain’t so, Tom!” moments.
On Thursday night Brady made his first public appearance since the release of Ted Wells’ deflate-gate report that implicated him to some level, and the crowd at the previously scheduled speaking event at Salem State University went wild. They cheered for him like the Super Bowl just ended again.
“We’re never going to get a chance for Tom to talk!” the person reading the introduction of Brady implored at one point.
Hopefully, you didn’t think that any of the allegations against Brady would hurt his popularity in the Northeast.
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Sportscaster Jim Gray hosted the event, the first 10 minutes of which were streamed on CSNNE.com. Gray went right into the questions about the deflate-gate controversy, getting them out of the way before the normal Q&A portion of the night. Brady avoided answering any specifics.
“I don’t have any reaction, Jim,” Brady said. “Our owner commented on it yesterday. It has only been 30 hours so I haven’t had a chance to digest it, but once I do, I’ll be sure to let you know how I feel about it.”
He said there was a “process” going on right now, which is a reason he didn’t want to say more. Presumably he meant possible NFL punishment. When asked when he would comment further on the report, he said, “Hopefully soon.”
Gray tried getting Brady to open up with different questions, and Brady rarely said anything that revealed much. Like he said in January when news of the scandal broke, he had loved ones around him who supported him, and part of being a public figure is dealing with adversity like this. The only time he said anything interesting about deflate-gate was when Gray asked if the controversy had distracted from the joy over the Super Bowl win.
“Absolutely not!” Brady said slowly, enunciating for full effect to the crowd.
Gray asked if the Super Bowl was tainted. Brady laughed and asked the crowd what it thought. You can guess the reaction. Then Gray asked Brady what he thought.
“No, absolutely not,” Brady said.
The Wells Report said, “it is more probable than not that Tom Brady was at least generally aware of the inappropriate activities” of two Patriots employees who were found to likely be involved in deflating footballs before the AFC championship game last season.
Brady’s representatives went on the offensive early Thursday, with agent Don Yee ripping the NFL and Wells’ report, calling it a “sting operation.”
Thursday night’s engagement at Salem State was a typical offseason event that turned into a much more newsworthy appearance given the timing of the Wells report’s release. Brady arrived for the event in a helicopter, and tickets were going for as much as $500 on Craigslist, the Boston Globe said.
This wasn’t the forum for serious questions and Brady wasn’t going to provide meaningful answers. But just in case you were worried about Brady’s status among Patriots fans, it might be even stronger than ever.
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Frank Schwab is the editor of Shutdown Corner on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at [email protected] or follow him on Twitter! Follow @YahooSchwab
