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Tom Brady and Baker Mayfield were both on target. Face it, Brady was in a league of his own

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Tom Brady and Baker Mayfield were both on target. Face it, Brady was in a league of his own

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Aside from perhaps being a little too talkative, Tampa Bay Buccaneers quarterback Baker Mayfield was spot on last week when he said on a podcast that “everyone was pretty stressed” about being inducted into the Hall of Fame recorded Tom Brady who was the Bucs quarterback.

Just like Brady was spot on with his shot at Mayfield in his first season as a Fox analyst. When you pay a guy $370 million over 10 years to talk football, you expect more than just post-whistle analysis. Fox executives must have been thrilled at the time when Brady Mayfield responded: “I found it stressful not having Super Bowl rings. So there was an attitude of a champion that I took to work every day. This wasn't a daycare center. If I wanted to have fun, I would take my kids to Disneyland.”

Mayfield has since walked back his comments, which we can assume are deducted from the 10 rushing yards he had last Sunday, while he also rushed for 347 yards and two in the Bucs' 33-16 win over the Philadelphia Eagles touchdowns passed. He sounded the usual PR/damage control bells, opining that much of what he said was “taken out of context” (ding!), that “none of it was personal” (ding!), and so on.

NaturallyDuring his years with the New England Patriots, which included six Super Bowl championships, Brady increased the pressure. And yes, absolutely, Brady brought that same intensity to Tampa Bay for three seasons, including the Bucs' 31-9 victory over the Kansas City Chiefs in Super Bowl LV. That's basically what Mayfield said, and yet we've already had a parade of bradyologists step forward to defend the old No. 12. Even former Pats coach Bill Belichick, although he was often at odds with Brady during their time together in New England, went into town with him recently to protect his former quarterback's honor.

Belichick, who regularly appears on ESPN's “Pat McAfee Show,” said: “People said, 'Well, we didn't have fun.' I mean, let me tell you something: It was fun to win six Super Bowl championships. It was fun to go to nine Super Bowls. It was fun to win those AFC Championship Games…There’s a lot more stress when you don’t win.”

This is technically correct. But it's garbage. Yes, the trophy presentations are fun. The parades are fun. The invitations to the late night talk shows are fun. The post-Super Bowl advertising opportunities are definitely fun.

What it doesn't take into account is the work, the sacrifice, the commitment — sorry if I sound like a high school football coach from 1965 — that leads to victory. And that barely scratches the surface. While there are many examples of athletes who have managed to party through life while bringing championship swagger to their teams – Babe Ruth and Mickey Mantle quickly come to mind – actually getting there generally takes effort an obsession with the winner's circle. And Brady was always obsessed. It was ripe for parody at times, from the avocado ice cream to the deflated football capers, but he is the only quarterback in history with seven Super Bowl rings.

I'm reminded here of the 1992 film “A League of Their Own,” a largely fictionalized version of the 1940s All-American Girls Professional Baseball League directed by the late Penny Marshall. When star player Dottie Hinson (Geena Davis) says she's leaving the Rockford Peaches because it's become “too hard,” her manager Jimmy Dugan, played with aplomb by Tom Hanks, says, “That's it.” allegedly be tough. If it wasn't hard, everyone would do it. The difficult part is what makes it great.”

The screenplay for “A League of Their Own” was written by the long-time writing team Lowell Ganz and Babaloo Mandel. I turned to her for some historical context. Ganz, a 76-year-old New York native who began writing for the television show “The Odd Couple” in his early 20s, got back to me within five minutes.

“Well, to start off, I’ve been a baseball fan my whole life,” Ganz said. “I watched Willie Mays make that catch in the 1954 World Series on TV with my parents. But I've never heard that sentence in the 15 million interviews I've seen on television. Never.

“But with Babaloo and I, everything we write is personal, and that’s how I think about writing,” he said. “Writing a film, getting it right, feeling really good about it, is hard. And if it weren't hard, everyone would do it. Anyone can write, you know? We all write, even if it's just something in a birthday card. But writing a film is difficult. That's how we felt about that line. We just transferred it from our world to Jimmy Dugan’s world.”

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Ganz said he and Mandel borrowed a few things from real sports, including this complaint from Jimmy Dugan: “I wasted five years drinking at the end of my career. Five years. And now there's nothing I wouldn't give to get it back someday.” Ganz told me that he and Mandel heard Mickey Mantle say something along these lines during an interview with Bob Costas.

What: “It is allegedly “Be tough,” Ganz calls it “my favorite line, certainly from this film and maybe from every other film we’ve made.” It felt loyal to us.”

And that was true for Tom Brady for 23 seasons – even if the truth often hurt the people around him.

That's all Baker Mayfield said. Yes, he backed away from it…just because. And yes, Brady had the say…just because. But no one is wrong.

(Photo of Tom Brady on the field before Sunday's Eagles-Buccaneers game in Tampa, Florida: Mike Ehrmann / Getty Images)

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