SAN FRANCISCO — Tom Brady holds a suffocating 31-8 career record against the New York Jets, and he just found a brand new way to twist the knife. At the grand opening of his new CardVault store in San Francisco this week, the seven-time Super Bowl champion encountered a lifelong Jets fan who handed him a literal sympathy card to apologize for decades of AFC East heartbreak. Brady signed the sympathy card with a massive smile, proving his ownership of the New York franchise extends well into retirement.
For twenty years, Brady treated the Meadowlands like his personal practice facility. When the prominent sports card collector approached the 48-year-old quarterback, he tried to establish a peaceful working relationship. You could instantly hear the sheer exhaustion mixed with begrudging respect in the fan’s voice as he explained his peace offering. He wanted to do business in the sports memorabilia hobby, but he needed closure first.
“I respect the hell out of you. But, you’ve put me through a lot. And now we’re in the same industry, we’re in the hobby together. I want to love you, but if we’re gonna do business together, we’ve got to handle this gentlemanly… So, I actually brought a sympathy card for you to sign.”
— Lifelong Jets Fan and Card Collector
Brady happily obliged in blue ink. He fired back with a quick, “It’s okay. We’ve forgiven him for that,” drawing loud laughs from the surrounding crowd. The interaction adds another hilarious chapter to Brady’s post-retirement troll tour. Just six months ago, during the unveiling of his 12-foot bronze statue at Gillette Stadium, Brady told the roaring New England crowd that the monument would give Jets fans “something to throw their beers at… probably in the second quarter.”
The misery simply refuses to end for the green side of New York. While Jets fans watched their team stumble through another lost campaign, the New England Patriots surged to a 14-3 regular-season record and an appearance in Super Bowl LX earlier this month. Even though the Seattle Seahawks handed New England a 29-13 defeat on February 8, the Patriots still swept the Jets in the regular season yet again.
New England continues to fight for Lombardi trophies while New York searches for answers at the bottom of the division. Until the Jets figure out how to field a consistently competitive roster, the ghosts of Brady’s 31 victories—and his fresh signature on a sympathy card—will keep haunting them on Sundays.
