Tom Brady

Fan Teaser: Week 170 Solution

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A preview, perhaps?

The NFL Conference Championships are today.

In the NFC, West Division rivals, the Los Angeles Rams and the Seattle Seahawks, square off in the Pacific Northwest where Seattle’s vaunted 12s will, no doubt be a factor (game time, 6:30 p.m. EST).

Meanwhile, in the AFC, the New England Patriots visit the Denver Broncos in what will be the team’s third all-time meeting in the AFC Championship. Like this one, each of the previous two have been played in Denver’s mile high elevation (game time, 3 p.m. EST).

The Broncos won each of the previous two meetings (26-16 on January 19, 2014, and 20-18 on January 24, 2016) with a certain Hall of Fame quarterback (and current pitchman for various products!) named Peyton Manning leading the way.

That will, decidedly, not be the case this year, as the Broncos’ will be led into their – potentially – penultimate game of the season by Jarrett Stidham, a sixth year pro with a total of 20 games played and just four starts (the last coming in 2023).

This week’s #FanTeaser image was captured immediately following the Broncos’ 2016 victory over the Patriots when Manning and Tom Brady were visiting near midfield.

Tom Brady and Peyton Manning after the 2016 AFC Championship Game
New England’s Tom Brady and Denver’s Peyton Manning talk following Denver’s 20-18 AFC Championship victory in Denver on January 24, 2016. (Photo by Ezra Shaw/Getty Images)

Just to review, The Fan Teaser was the creation of former Ann Arbor News Sports Editor Geoff Larcom. Longtime friend and fellow Ann Arbor News alum, Pat Schutte, took it to heights previously unknown. We aim to keep it alive here at The Sports Fan Project. The cropped photo and the accompanying clue give you an idea as to who or what the image is of. We invite you to use the Comment option to take a crack at solving the Teaser and, if you’re so inclined, participate in some good-spirited banter with your fellow sports fans. The Fan Teaser will appear each Friday morning with the reveal coming to you Sunday.

The Fan Teaser: Week 141 Solution

DouglasTHill1 Comment
Don’t fumble this week’s easy Fan Teaser conversion.

In celebration of the USA’s Independence Day, we figured why not use the nation’s most-celebrated Patriot (at least on the athletic field)?

Say hello to what might have been, if only future Pro Football Hall of Famer Tom Brady had taken the Montreal Expos up on their generous offer to an 18th round draft pick in 1995. (The club was rumored to have offered him a signing bonus similar to that of a late second or early third-round draft choice.)

Tom Brady
Tom Brady – yes, that Tom Brady – was an 18th round selection by the Montreal Expos in the 1995 MLB Draft.

Brady, of course, chose to attend the University of Michigan on a football scholarship and things worked out OK for the 7-time Super Bowl champion quarterback.

The photo used today is from a Bowman Chrome baseball card produced by the Topps Company in 2023. The story, however, gets better. Because Brady never signed with the Expos and never, so far as anyone is aware, even tried on a cap, this image on the card is, understandably, Photoshopped.

After some sleuthing by eagle-eyed trading card afficianados, it is now presumed Brady’s face was placed on the body of 14-season Major League catcher, Darrin Fletcher. Check out the video below from “Junk Wax Hero” to see who actually might be standing next to Brady when his image was repurposed from a separate photo. As for the picture of Fletcher pounding his catcher’s glove, it seems to have been taken prior to a game played April 10, 1993, against the Colorado Rockies at Mile High Stadium (the second-ever home game for the Rockies); Fletcher did not play.

Two other fun facts about Brady, the Expos, and his card:

  • First, Brady signed a limited edition 1/1 of this card that sold at auction for $158,600. The highest price ever recorded at auction for an Expos uniformed player. A figure, by the way, that’s just over $10,000 less than what Darrin Fletcher earned for the 1993 season ($170,000).
  • Second, when Brady retired a second time from the NFL in 2023, he became the final Montreal Expos draft pick to retire from a professional playing career.

Just to review, The Fan Teaser was the creation of former Ann Arbor News Sports Editor Geoff Larcom. Longtime friend and fellow Ann Arbor News alum, Pat Schutte, took it to heights previously unknown. We aim to keep it alive here at The Sports Fan Project. The cropped photo and the accompanying clue give you an idea as to who or what the image is of. We invite you to use the Comment option to take a crack at solving the Teaser and, if you’re so inclined, participate in some good-spirited banter with your fellow sports fans. The Fan Teaser will appear each Friday morning with the reveal coming to you Sunday.

How Long is 23 NFL Seasons?

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Tom Brady announced – for the second time in as many years – his retirement from the NFL last week.

Tom Brady

I can’t say I was ever a big Tom Brady fan. Yeah, I know he played collegiately down the road from where I live, but geography does not always elicit allegiance.

What amazes about Brady, however, is the longevity of his career. His first season was 2000 and it got me thinking:

  • In September 2000, Bill Clinton was still the U.S. President.
  • By the end of his first season, we had the George W. Bush vs. Al Gore Presidential race and the whole hanging chad episode.
  • Brady’s career spanned five different presidential administrations.
  • The Patriots visit to metropolitan New York and their 20-19 loss to the New York Jets – on September 11, 2000 – meant that the Twin Towers were still standing sentry over lower Manhattan.
  • Brady attempted just three pass attempts that first season. That’s six less than some other rookie named Michael Bishop who never appeared in an NFL game again after that season.
  • Our son is now able to drink legally and has never known an NFL without Tom Brady.
  • In reviewing his rookie season, the New England Patriots played the Cleveland Browns whose starting quarterback was Doug Pederson who currently coaches Jacksonville Jaguars and coached the Philadelphia Eagles to its win Super Bowl LII – five seasons ago!
  • The Patriots also played the Kansas City Chiefs in 2000. A QB on the Chiefs roster was 44-year-old Warren Moon. Yes, Warren Moon is now 66 and eligible by April for full Social Security retirement benefits!
  • Twenty-three years from now, it will be 2046 and I will have long been eligible for full Social Security!
  • When the Patriots and Brady took the field for that first game in 2000, my father was the same age as me today.

Longevity is one of those statistics that’s always fascinated me. Perhaps, as much as anything, it’s why – though still not a Brady fan – I have a certain appreciation for what he was able to accomplish and for the littany of players who’ve come and gone during his time in the NFL.