Hear an Unknown Tom Brady Meet the New England Media in 2000

It’s crazy to think that at the time, the guy being interviewed was probably more excited about it than the New England sportswriters tasked with the chore. A quarterback drafted in the sixth round by a team that already has Drew Bledsoe.

Who cares? It was up there with stealing second base when your team’s down 0-2 to the Yankees.

But as we near the long-awaited return of Tom Brady to Gillette Stadium to be honored by the Patriots, it’s hard not to marvel at his story. Starting with his introductory press conference way back in 2000.

The Patriots released Brady’s first appearance as a Patriot, and like a fan up the road named John Cena, you couldn’t even see him. Instead, Brady met everybody on a conference call.

On Bledsoe, Brady said:

“I was looking for…a place to get my foot in the door and try to be great for the team that picked me…Drew Bledsoe is certainly one of the best quarterbacks in the NFL, and it's gonna be great to learn under him and compete for a job with the Patriots.”

It certainly was. For Brady, at least (let’s not forget Bledsoe got us to a Super Bowl and, along with Michael Jackson, helped build Gillette Stadium).

But one part of the call that stood out was Brady talking about his baseball career:

“I played catcher in high school and I got drafted by the Montreal Expos and I just decided I wanted to go back to Michigan and be the starting quarterback and play in front of 112,000 people.”

I wonder if Brady would’ve pulled a Bo Jackson had the Expos moved to Boston in 2003...