The incredulous Tom Brady

[Victor Steinbok]

I still think you're missing the point, Joel. Best I can tell, the
phrase refers to Brady's first two years in the league, when he came in
as a rookie after being a backup at Michigan for four years IIRC, but he
got drafted because one of the coaches made a personal appeal for him to
Belichik. He only got promoted to started when Bledsoe got injured. So,
yes, he could have been easily considered to be a "wide-eyed kid
quarterback" in those years. But he's a long way from it now. Either
way, "incredible" makes no sense here IMO.

     VS-)

On 2/11/2012 7:39 PM, Joel S. Berson wrote:
> At 2/11/2012 06:12 PM, victor steinbok wrote:
>> "Incredulous" in the sense "wide-eyed" is quite common--I am making no
>> judgment on the usage, just noting that it seems to be more common than you
>> give credit for.
> I gave no credit or blame to the sense of "wide-eyed", because I did
> not find that in the OED.   (Nor would I use it that way.)  I doubt
> that Gasper meant that Brady was "wide-eyed", unbelieving or awed,
> about something.
>
>> "Incredible" would just be wrong here--somehow the 4-year
>> bench-warmer at Michigan does not strike me as "incredible". The reference
>> is to the beginning of his career, not to the career as a whole.
> Not to Michigan, rather to the beginning of his professional career,
> I think -- viz. the reference to the Lombardi Trophy.   Gasper was
> probably thinking of Brady's second season with the Patriots (2001),
> when he led them to a Super Bowl victory, the youngest quarterback to
> do so, and was named Super Bowl MVP.
>
> Joel

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