Getting Ready for Brady's Hello to Father Time

11.) I again saw under the sun that the race is not to the swift and the battle is not to the warriors, and neither is bread to the wise nor wealth to the discerning nor favor to men of ability; for time and chance overtake them all. 12.) Moreover, man does not know his time: like fish caught in a treacherous net and birds trapped in a snare, so the sons of men are ensnared at an evil time when it suddenly falls on them. Ecclesiastes 9: 11-12.

than a cute introduction or a jolly laugh that I have shared. This is from the Bible, Ecclesiastes chapter 9, verse(s) 11and 12. Not that I am a Theologian by any stretch, but when I read these two verses, I am humbled in a way that no words that I could write would soothe the disappointment that burns in my heart.

Life is not guaranteed for any living species. Even the smallest of mites and microbes have a time to live and a time to die, this too from Ecclesiastes, concerning the seasons and purposes in life. I do not pretend to know everything about The Bible, life itself, or even my own life, but verses 11 and 12 speak so many truths to me that I just had to share my thoughts with you.

Fair warning: you will have to read this commentary in its entirety because I do not choose for anyone to misunderstand the things in this piece, that does mean so much to me.

Let's all take a breath and agree about one thing: Tom Brady, quarterback of the New England Patriots, who is going to Super Bowl 52 (Roman Numerals), the eighth-time. I do not ask that you let this "sink" in or anywhere, for we all know the outcome of the NFL Super Bowl almost every year. In plain talk: it's Brady and The Patriots against The Entire NFL. Game, set, and match.

Magic? Nope. Smoke and mirrors? Hardly. Two words: experience and knowledge. These two words and their affects could build kingdoms and get us to other worlds. These words are just that powerful. These two words are very common to New Englands Patriots, head coach, Bill Belichick and Crimson Tide, head coach, Nick Saban, for the two words are used every day that the sun rises. Without both in operation, failure results. Experience and Knowledge are "married" so to speak working with and for each other and we all can see the end results: winning!

Nick Saban's Crimson Tide took a banged-up bunch of players who said first in their hearts, we ain't quitting. And used their experience of past regular season games and took the knowledge of their next opponent and won first, in their minds before the kick-off of any of their games. Saban and his assistant coaches "gamed" each contest a week before each game was played. Belichick does primarily the same exact thing for Belichick and Saban both worked in the NFLs Cleveland Browns and Saban was like a sponge soaking up every word that Belichick said in meetings or in practices.

No one coach or team member wins. The coaches (plural) and team wins. Plain as that. And the work for success begins even when a coach or player is injured, but not injured enough to sit a game out. The Crimson Tide and Belichick are two of the most mentally tough coaches in the business. Just read their track records.

In every regular season game or the Championship Game(s), did you see Tom Brady and the Patriots play as there was no tomorrow? Not even close. When the Patriots were down by 10 points going into the fourth quarter, Tom Brady hit Danny Amendola for two touchdowns and then using his running backs, he "ate up" the clock. Experience. Knowledge. That's all it was. Nothing fancy, but everything working.

When I was a boy I liked to watch Pro and College Football. My dad did also. My mom at first didn't like football. She was into basketball when she was a girl and was a member of her Girls' Basketball Championship when she was a girl--she said that I loved to shoot the hoops. And that was her very words. I saw her in her team photo and published it in the newspaper where I worked in Hamilton, Al.

A staunch skeptic of the Experience and Knowledge Doctrine might ask, do these two words work every time? No. And to go further, no team ever performs to perfection in every play in every game every time. Humans are humans and we all have internal failures and weaknesses. Humans may play like and look like machines, but in that proposition, is where the foolishness lies. Failure is always present on every sideline, bleacher, box seat, even in the locker rooms before the games are played.

Players on teams as well as their coaches, have personal lives and unless the player or coach can compartmentalize a personal problem at home, then "that" problem becomes first, the player's problem on the field and unless it's solved, will ultimately be the team's problem and the entire team is robbed by "that" one player with one personal problem that he or she did not take charge and solve it.

I see no use (or point) in stringing "this" topic along, especially when you have your life to lead, job to see to and mortgages to pay. I get all that. But too, in that declaration of not going to run this topic into the ground will end in a sensible length.

Tom Brady, Nick Saban, Bill Belichick, these players, coaches, and other players and coa ches of other sports along with Father Time, all have a strong relevance in my thinking. And that cheers me up for I like being a small part of something that I helped to create to make a reader find an affect from this work and the works that I have provided in the past three weeks.

And please do not be confused. I am not about self-gratification, or going to such a ridiculous level to just let people see and read something "I" did. Sure, I am proud of my hubs, commentaries and narratives. But my pride is secondary to my Lord and Master, The Lord God, being pleased at what comes out of my imagination and keyboard. Actually my pride is third when I see and read comments from people who read my work and act on whatever emotion the work has found in them.

Tom Brady and Father Time are not friends. Not in the sense that they get together after games to have a drink or a quick bite before Brady heads home to be with his family, and for that, I am proud.

But as athletic, smart, and talented as he is, I would hope that Brady and all in his slot of life will take time to know that like every living thing, there are those sour limits that are latched onto all of us and we never see them while we work or play. But they are there. And Father Time, he has to be the most patient entity that I have ever read about. He has taken close attention to Brady for a reason: he is nearing "that" age where the cut-off time for NFL players is 39 years old or a number near there.

And this Father Time is not dressed in black and holding a sword, (I get him mixed up with the Grim Reaper), but he is watching Brady and seeing things that you and I are blind to. Brady's steps getting a bit slower and his reflexes getting a bit more late in executing a certain play. Age and Time. The two Main Foes of Experience and Knowledge. Age and Time, sadly, affects Tom Brady, Bill Belichick, Nick Saban and even myself.

I make no excuses for that. I accept it as gracious as I can be. I also know that there is "a" time, a day, maybe in a year or two that Tom Brady calls it quits. But not says farewell to an industry that not only made him a household word, but made him both a hero and a villain. And ran faster than Father Time ever dreamed of running. Because Father Time has no need of running. He just sits, watches, and waits.

And when it is Brady's Swan Song, it won't make Brady sad. Or Father Time. Look at the beginning of verses 11 and 12 of Ecclesiastes, chapter 9. When Brady says that's it, cuts whatever ribbon he has waiting, maybe a Tom Brady Athletic Center, and his team owner, Robert Kraft can easily afford it. Then Tom Brady, with locker cleaned out, shakes few hands as he walks out to get into his car to ride home the last time as the quarterback of the New England Patriots.

One day the sun shines on Brady, and one day the sun hides from Brady. Nothing scary or shocking, just a serious, sincere evolution of each life given on the earth. For every thing and soul with life, that very life has to end.

Someone in the names and talents of College Football, a young man has been watching Brady for all of the times he has played the game. This young man is able to emulate every word, move, and mannerism that Tom Brady used while playing in the NFL. Isn't that the way that Life is? There used to be people, including (for a time), "The Best" at their chosen profession or vocation.

Not anymore. For as Tom Brady is getting acquainted with Father Time, he, Father Time has, in the back of his mind, a young college quarterback who has lived in Brady's shadow and his overall heart's desire is to play in the NFL just like Tom Brady in every way. And that is sure to happen, just as sure as it is to happen as Tom Brady playing in his final game.

No mortal man is forever. Not even Father Time. And sadly, very sadly, not Tom Brady.