I’ve been checking for three days. Haven’t seen a poster of Tom. Haven’t seen Tom’s photo on the cover of any local newspa pers or magazines. Went to Waterstone’s bookstore in Piccadilly Circus Friday night and there wasn’t a single copy of Charles Pierce’s “Moving The Chains.’’ For that matter, there wasn’t any book regarding American football, though I did see the Beckham bio in which the uber-star rips the Braintree Sheraton.
The only Brady shirts in town are worn by New England yahoos who have made the flight across the pond for today’s Patriots-Buccaneers game at Wembley Stadium. Hundreds of them assembled last night at a UKPatriots fan club party at the Sports Cafe on Haymarket Street (special guest: Bob Kraft).
Tom spoke with the British media a couple of times this past week. He submitted to an overseas conference call when the Patriots were still in Foxborough Tuesday. On Friday, he stood behind the podium in the Long Room of the stodgy Brit Oval Cricket Club (built in 1890). In typical tacky American form, Tom was positioned in front of a Dunkin Donuts/Mass. Lottery/Patriots logo, which was placed between sconces in front of a wood panel memorializing the club members who lost their lives in World War I.
There were surprisingly few Gisele questions. Tom was treated less invasively than your typical Wimbledon match winner. Sample questions: Has Kraft put any extra pressure on you to impress the locals? Can you pick out one moment when you were growing up that inspired you to become an American football player? I was wondering if you’ve researched your Irish ancestry at all? Any specific concerns with your knee on the field at Wembley? When you came here four years ago, were you recognized?
“The Americans, they recognized me,’’ Brady said. “But the English people, they’re not too familiar with football.’’
A followup question was, “What is it like to think of yourself as a global icon?
