Halloran: Inside the head of Tom Brady

Injured players have a lot of “R” words to consider. Always there is rehab. Hopefully, there is recovery. In many cases, there is the return. And every so often, an injured player either is forced or chooses to retire. The moment Rodney Harrison waved goodbye to the fans at Gillette Stadium, speculation began that his season-ending injury might actually be career ending. The thought of Harrison retiring is easily entertained. But what about Tom Brady?

Chances are Brady will pick three of the four “R’s.” He’ll rehab, recover and return to the Patriots next year, but I wonder if he’s contemplated retirement. What if he’s missing football right now, but not as much as he thought? What if it gets easier to be away instead of harder?
Remember, this is what Brady told 60 Minutes in June of 2005: “Why do I have three Super Bowl rings, and still think there’s something greater out there for me? Maybe a lot of people would say, ‘Hey man, this is what it is.’ I reached my goal, my dream, my life. Me, I think, ‘God, it’s gotta be more than this.’”

Brady sounded like someone doing a little soul searching, and he added: “I think there’s a lot of other parts about me that I’m trying to find. I know what ultimately makes me happy are family and friends, and positive relationships with great people. I think I get more out of that than anything.”

And that was before Gisele, and before the baby. It sounded at the time like Brady had realized that, in the grand scheme of things, football isn’t important at all. So, is there any chance he’s wondering right now why he should work so hard to get back to something that holds so little significance, especially when he’ll spend most of this year surrounded by the people that are most important to him. If Brady really thinks there’s something bigger and more meaningful out there for him, why wait to get started on it?

Sure, he’s only 31. He’s signed through the 2010 season, and he didn’t get a chance to go out on his own terms. But he has nothing left to accomplish as a football player, and he just might have tremendous things to accomplish as a person, or as a politician.

It’s a shame that if he did retire, most people would wonder why someone would stop making millions of dollars to play a game they love, and very few people would congratulate him on the shifting of his priorities. Would he be crazy to quit, so he could spend more time with his son? Would it be a mistake to quit, so he could dedicate himself to a charity or charities of his choosing? Would fans understand if he wanted to devote himself to public service?

Tom Brady is much more than a football player, and he’s going to have stop playing some day. What if that day has already come and gone?

Bob Halloran is a sports anchor and reporter. He’s also the author of “Irish Thunder: The Hard Life and Times of Micky Ward,” published by The Lyons Press.