I don’t particularly like Tom Brady — that has never been a secret.
It’s not like I’m alone. Many, many millions of NFL fans can’t stand the Patriots-turned-Bucs quarterback, who is always No1 on the "most hated athlete in America" list.
We all have our reasons — he is too successful; he promotes quack theories about health treatments; he was part of the smuggest, cheatiest team in sports history; there is just ... something ... about him.
But credit where it is due.
Brady, who has finally announced his retirement at the age of 44 (he is exactly one week older than me), is the greatest NFL player of all time, and it isn’t even close.
He was an unheralded player out of college, and physically was nothing special, but he just knew how to get the job done.
It’s difficult to rate him on a global sense — the NFL is now wildly popular, but only one country plays the sport — but he is in a tier very close to Jordan, Pele, Messi and Bradman.
Racism in the NFL
Forget the Super Bowl — well, not completely, as my beloved Los Angeles Rams are playing in it.
The biggest story in the NFL right now is a lawsuit that could have ramifications on the scale of the league’s brain injury issues.
Brian Flores, dumped as Miami Dolphins coach despite helping the team get better, is suing the NFL and EVERY franchise, alleging racial discrimination in hiring practices, Reuters reports.
The suit, filed on the first day of Black History Month, begins with an errant text message from New England coach Bill Belichick congratulating who he thought was Brian Daboll on getting the Giants job. However, it was Flores, who is black, he was texting, three days before Flores interviewed with the team.
"God has gifted me with a special talent to coach the game of football, but the need for change is bigger than my personal goals," Flores said.
"I understand that I may be risking coaching the game that I love and that has done so much for my family and me. My sincere hope is that by standing up against systemic racism in the NFL, others will join me to ensure that positive change is made for generations to come."
Flores also points the finger at the Denver Broncos for conducting a "sham interview" with him purely to comply with the "Rooney Rule", designed to ensure minorities get job interviews by NFL teams.
The mile king
This made me do a double-take.
New Zealand runner Nick Willis this week ran 3min 59.71sec at the Wanamaker Mile, meaning he had posted a sub-4min mile for the TWENTIETH consecutive year.
That is outrageous.
People say Nick Willis is underrated, and it is possibly true to say his efforts haven’t always been fully appreciated.
My colleague Jeff Cheshire has been asked to rate New Zealand’s greatest middle-distance runners, so look out for that feature soon.
And, yes, the sports editor has warned him that Jack Lovelock better be No1 or else.
We all know New Zealand, despite a glorious history with the likes of Anthony Wilding and Ruia Morrison and Brett Steven, doesn’t make much of a wave in the tennis world.
But it shocked me when I read this from my old mate David Long on Stuff:
"New Zealand hasn’t had a male player ranked inside the top 100 in singles since Brett Steven in 1999. The last female player was Marina Erakovic, who dropped out of the top 100 in 2015.
"Currently, New Zealand’s top-ranked men’s player is Ajeet Rai at 857 and the highest women’s player is Paige Hourigan at 443."
Gulp. Why can’t we play tennis?
Ice memories
The Last Word has been alerted to a couple of nice Dunedin links in the world of ice hockey.
The city hosted the third division of the under-20 world championships back in 2015, and the tournament was won by China.
Three of the Chinese players — defenceman Pengfei Zhang and forwards Zesen Zhang and Xudong Xiang — are playing for China in the Winter Olympics on home ice.
There is also a link to Nathan Walker, the classy Australian player who is contracted to the St Louis Blues in the NHL.
Walker played in Dunedin for the New South Wales team at the Friendship Games in the late 2000s.
Remember Roberto?
Somebody wake me because it feels like 1999.
Brazilian football great Roberto Carlos — you remember his audacious free kicks — is making a most unexpected (and brief) comeback.
He will make an appearance for an English pub team, The Bull in the Barne, in Shropshire this month.
The pub won a "dream transfer raffle" on eBay to secure the services of the 48-year-old with the magic left boot for a Sunday league game.
"You pay five quid to enter the raffle for a chance to have a pro sign for your team. One of our lads said in a group chat, ‘Let’s just give it a go’ and we ended up winning it," striker and club secretary Matthew Brown told BBC Radio.
"I went out on Friday night and woke up with a bit of a sore head on Saturday and I had messages from people saying, ‘Is it true about Roberto Carlos?’ and at that point I was thinking: ‘It can’t have happened, it’s just a dream’."
