Tom Brady, a Californian, was an excellent quarterback (四分卫) at Junipero Serra High School. But when he arrived at the University of Michigan, he didn't see much playing time during his first three years on campus. He considered going back to a college in California, but he decided to stick it out. He didn't become a starter until the second half of his senior year. After becoming a National Football League (NFL) player, he was not allowed to play as a starter. However, he kept improving his skills and preparing each week like he was the starter.
In 2001, his second season, he only got in on the act because the starter was injured. Fans thought Tom would be just a fill-in. But Tom led his team New England Patriots to a victory in his first start, then they won four of five, and then finished the year with six victories. Each week he seemed to get a little better, and people began to recognize him as a dark horse. New England Patriots got into the Super Bowl, fighting against the defending ( 卫冕的) champions St. Louis Rams. Tom led a final-minute game-winning drive. He was no longer a nobody.
Today, Brady is considered perhaps the greatest quarterback ever. He'd become a superstar. Yet he had never lost that fire, that drive, and that sense that the world didn't believe in him. At 37, he said that he would play until fifty if his body allowed him to do so. And he even told his teammates that he wanted to play forever if possible.
His teammates had dreamed of being him. Hogan was thirteen in February of 2002 when Brady and New England Patriots beat St. Louis Rams. Lengel was eleven at the time, watching with his grandfather in Kentucky. White was ten in Florida. Mitchell was nine in Georgia. These teammates were Tom's big fans who since childhood had viewed from TV how he did the impossible. "He gave us the encouragement," Hogan said.
He kept telling his teammates to keep going when the game wasn't over. He isn't the biggest, the fastest, and the strongest football player in the world. But he may be the most strong-minded.
