Although there isn’t much chance I bang my way through this without an ounce of bias, I am going to try my hardest to stick to the facts and be fair. I think I can do a pretty good job of that.

So here they are, the facts as they exist today

-Tom Brady played in the NFL for 22 seasons
-His first 20 were played in New England
-His last two were played in Tampa Bay
-He had kind words about New England when he left for his final two seasons (9% of his career)
-He had some nice words when he played New England this year
-He retired officially today
-In his 900+ word retirement speech, which lasted multiple scrolls of an IG post, he never once mentioned New England, the Patriots franchise, or the fans
-He thanked the Glazers (owner of the Bucs), coach Bruce Arians, Tampa, the Tamps fanbase profusely

Do you kind of see where I am going with this?

Tom Brady fans have defended him going to Tampa Bay since the moment it became official. I kind of found it odd. But I find a lot things a lot of humans do odd so I sort of ignored it, minus the occasional acidy remark when I got fed up with people talking about him like he still played here. It was just an odd time in Boston sports. Bruins, Celts, Sox, Pats, Tom Brady, for some. There were others like me too. He chose to leave and he was no longer on our team. Best of luck, but that’s it. Relationships of all kinds end. It’s just best to move on.

So I’ll admit I feel a bit vindicated now. Sad too. We did win six super bowls with the guy. People cherished Tom Brady. He was a beacon of hope in their dark worlds. And I get it man, I do. But he left. He didn’t care to stick around. He went to another city for two of the 22 years he has been in the league and the 44+ years he’s been on earth and the only people he thanked on the way out were the people who cheered him on in between dips in his pool at the AirBnb he rented for a couple of years.

He didn’t care about the people of New England. He didn’t mention us. He didn’t mention you. He didn’t mention Kraft. Regardless of his feelings for Belichick, Kraft and Brady always felt like family. They were, we thought, eternally linked. Kraft bringing this shitty franchise back from the brink with Brady at the front of the cavalry. And ya, he didn’t, as expected, thank Bill Belichick. That ended poorly. But Belichick gave him his shot all those years ago. Bledsoe was good to start the super bowl. An all-everything QB and Belichick went with the kid. What if he hadn’t? Who cares I guess. Thank you Bruce Arians.

Look, he has every right to write whatever thank you note he wants on his way out. I’m not criticizing that. I’m not criticizing him, actually. I’m criticizing everyone who called themselves a “Patriots fan” but still worshipped at the temple of Brady. Who thought they were anything other than someone who was cheering on their ex as they walked up the aisle with someone else. It was cringe-worthingly sad to begin with. Now that we know they had been cheating on you the whole time, that can’t feel good, and it makes it even more awkward.

With any luck though this is it. He’s gone. He’s retired. Hopefully locally at least that’s the last we hear of it. We have a new QB who I heard is pretty good. He led us to the playoffs and made the pro bowl. Maybe say a couple Hail Marys as penance and then come back to your team.

Just block your ex on facebook first.