An on-his-way-to-wobbly Tom Brady decided, the other day, to chuck the Lombardi Trophy from one boat to another. A Tampa Bay Buccaneers tight end, Cameron Brate, caught it with relative ease.
No doubt by now you’ve seen the clip, and maybe read that Brate called it the best catch of his life. Perhaps the funniest part of the whole ordeal is that somebody caught Brady’s daughter yelling, “Noooo!” because, yes, women are smarter and make better choices, just in general.
Anyway, that pretty much was that. Not going to say it made Tom Brady cool or relatable. But it was a thing he did.
Or! Apparently there’s controversy around it:
Lorraine Grohs says that Tom Brady's trophy toss is insulting to her family's legacy and would like an apology.
She is the daughter of Greg Grohs, the master silversmith who crafted the very first Lombardi Trophy. #GoBucs pic.twitter.com/sdElEcHmgp
— Kyle Burger (@kyle_burger) February 13, 2021
“It takes a lotta work, a lotta hard work. A lot of hours go into it. It just really upset me that this trophy was disgraced and disrespected by being thrown as if it was a real football. I didn’t sleep for the past two nights because of this. I was that upset. Because I know the passion that goes into this trophy and how my dad and all his fellow silversmiths are so proud to make this. I personally would like an apology, not just to me and my family and the other silversmiths, but to the fans.”
Huh. Well. Kudos to Lorraine for defending her father’s line of work, and I can see where she’s coming from. However I feel like we should point out that the Lombardi Trophy, unlike the Stanley Cup, is re-sculpted each year. Meaning that Tom Brady has held SEVEN of these things. He was bound to get bored with them at some point. He, better than anyone in the history of the sport, knows they’re replaceable.
Also, his forever teammate Rob Gronkowski once famously used a Lombardi earned by the New England Patriots to literally bunt a baseball, leaving a large dent.
Besides that, the Stanley Cup — which is actually an artifact — is routinely abused by hockey players in various ways. That World Series trophy that looks like it was made to break constantly breaks. One of the most prestigious awards anywhere, the one given for winning the Duke’s Mayo Bowl, ended up in shards on the floor of the Wisconsin locker room this year.
To the victors go the spoils. What happens next is up to them.