Winning is not easy
The questions of Tom Brady and his decision to play football for one more season have provided the pundits endless talking points and the critics plenty of fodder.
It is easy to wonder what Brady could have possibly been thinking? Why would the greatest quarterback in a generation go back for another season at the age of 45? What is the point of risking personal health and family for another ring? The real question is why do any of us do anything? We have all made decisions that have confounded our friends and family.
What is happening now to Tom Brady and his team is not just about Tom’s age, it is about having the right team, the right coaches and a balanced family life all working in concert to allow Brady to perform at his peak potential.
In team sports, even the greatest cannot compete at the highest level without the right combination of teammates and coaches. This is not to say that his current teammates lack talent or that he has poor coaching. It just shows how winning is so difficult to achieve and how winning consistently even more challenging. In team sports, for all of the variables to be in place to go all the way even once is an achievement, to do it 7 times is astounding.
However, with an imbalanced home life a perfect team environment is still probably not enough for someone even of Brady’s caliber to perform at his highest potential. The proverbial 3 legged stool has more than one damaged leg. As for the answer to why any of us do anything, it is because we can.